Intel Roadmap Leak Reveals Bartlett Lake Variants and Wildcat Lake—Hints at Broader Strategy to Counter AMD and ARM Threats
Intel’s internal roadmap has once again found its way into the public eye, thanks to a leaked slide from a now-removed “gold deck” presentation related to Time Coordinated Computing (TCC). This slide, originally intended for real-time computing developers, casually revealed a trio of previously unknown CPU codenames: Wildcat Lake, Bartlett Lake-S, and a Bartlett Lake 12P-core variant. While Panther Lake and Nova Lake were also listed—both expected successors to Meteor and Lunar Lake—these new additions are creating buzz due to Intel’s lack of public discussion around them.
The leak comes via @InstLatX64 on Twitter (reported by VideoCardz), who spotted the new entries in Intel’s developer-facing documentation. While the slide has since been taken down, its details offer a rare glimpse into what Intel has cooking beyond the consumer-facing announcements. Bartlett Lake-S, in particular, appears to build upon the existing 14th-gen family but with some intriguing variations. Intel already provides a product brief for Bartlett Lake-S, confirming configurations with up to 24 cores and 32 threads (8P+16E), DDR5-5600, and PCIe 5.0 support, as well as integrated Xe graphics (up to 32 EUs). Targeted at industrial and embedded markets, Bartlett Lake-S isn’t mentioned in any mainstream desktop roadmap, but it aligns with Intel’s Core (non-Ultra) Series 2 branding.
The most interesting revelation is the mention of a 12P-core-only variant of Bartlett Lake, a chip configuration not discussed in Intel’s public materials. This high-performance SKU drops all efficiency cores in favor of 12 performance cores, potentially suggesting a more deterministic and latency-sensitive design approach. It’s unclear whether this variant is meant for industrial use or represents a sneak peek at a new strategy to compete with AMD’s gaming-optimized X3D lineup. With AMD gaining ground among gamers and professionals for its power-efficient yet performant 3D V-Cache chips, Intel may be preparing its own single-purpose variant tailored for specific market niches.
Then there’s Wildcat Lake, a more enigmatic entry that has appeared in rumors before but never in official documentation. Based on whispers in hardware circles, Wildcat Lake may target ultra-mobile or low-power applications, possibly leveraging the 18A process node. That would place it in a direct line of fire with ARM-based competition like Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X series, which emphasizes power efficiency and integrated AI capabilities. Intel’s renewed focus on competing across both high-performance and low-power market segments may be forcing the company to design increasingly specialized chips for distinct roles.
With AMD pushing high-performance gaming silicon and Qualcomm entering the Windows-on-ARM space in a big way, Intel appears to be diversifying its portfolio with targeted silicon for edge, embedded, and portable computing. While the likelihood of Bartlett Lake or Wildcat Lake appearing in your next consumer desktop PC remains slim for now, the presence of a 12P variant could hint at new directions for enthusiast or workstation computing. Keep an eye on upcoming Intel announcements—these leaked codenames may reappear in very different contexts.