Intel's next-generation Lunar Lake mobile Cpus are highly anticipated, and since they were announced earlier this month, we've been keen to get them on our own. However, recent reports suggest that no new chips will be seen until the end of this year, meaning Intel could miss the big back-to-school laptop trading period. 

Digitimes Asia reports (via Hardware Times) that the new Lunar Lake chip is said to not ship until May 6, not May 9, as previously suggested.

If these reports prove, Intel will be able to launch AMD's new Ryzen AI300 series Cpus (which are said to be launched on May 7 this year) or Qualcomm's Far Slower than Snapdragon X-Series Chips Lunar Lake's chip design and performance claims seem impressive, but coming late to the party is a big setback for Intel, as it means late-summer laptop sales are likely to be swallowed up by competitors. 

Students are likely looking for laptops with the latest chips and the "AI PC" brand, and at the moment it appears that devices with AMD or Qualcomm CPUs may be the only models that are technically qualified.

In order to be classified as an AI PC by Microsoft, the CPU must have an NPU with at least 45TOP AI processing performance, and Meteor Lake, Intel's only current mobile chip, manages 34TOP from the entire package and only 10TOP from the NPU alone.

So what could be the cause of this delay is that despite Intel's long-term roadmap, Lunar Lake's compute tile uses TSMC's N3B nodes.

It's a bit awkward because N3B yields are probably pretty poor. Apple is switching focus to the new M3 chip instead of TSMC's N3e node and abandoning the previous M3 series of n3B in some products, of course, other factors may apply, but if confirmed, it looks like a potential factor in the delay.

It remains to be seen whether the brand association alone would be enough to convince laptop buyers to go for an old Intel Cpu over a shiny new chip from a major competitor. Still, if these reports prove, this may be troubling news for AMD and the company where others seem to be eating lunch. As for the desktop Cpu, AMD's Zen5 chip has been announced and looks very advanced, but the news of Arrow Lake has been quiet for the time being. While Intel appears to be playing catchup, these delays, if true, hardly change the perception that the company is struggling to keep up with the pace.