Intel’s first processor using rival TSMC’s technology, the Lunar Lake, has officially launched, intensifying the competition with AMD. According to a recent report by TechNews, third-party testing has confirmed Intel’s claims: Lunar Lake is indeed the most energy-efficient x86 processor to date, outperforming Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X and even rivaling Apple’s M3, reminiscent of Apple’s groundbreaking M1 launch.

TechNews attributes this success not only to Intel’s redesign of power supply, frequency regulation, and packaging but also to the advanced TSMC N3B process.

Recently, Intel announced that in order to reduce costs and better prepare for its in-house 18A process, it has decided to abandon the introduction of the 20A process. As a result, the Arrow Lake chip launching this month will also use TSMC’s process. TechNews raised the question in their article: “With Intel’s new platforms expected to rely on TSMC’s process at least until 2026, will AMD face significant challenges?”

Can AMD’s Zen 5 architecture turn the tide?

TechNews noted that AMD’s current advantage over Intel rests heavily on using TSMC’s process. However, AMD is not alone in benefiting from TSMC’s power efficiency. Across the board, chips produced with TSMC technology have demonstrated superior energy efficiency, delivering high performance without consuming excessive power. But, with the efficiency gains from advanced nodes like M4 or A18 nearing their limits, chipmakers will need to adopt more aggressive power and frequency strategies to push performance further.

Lunar Lake’s impressive energy efficiency highlights both TSMC’s process advantage and Intel’s enduring design prowess. This should serve as a warning for AMD, which plans a major push into the laptop market in 2025. With the launch of Strix Point and Hawk Point this year, AMD aims to release five new platforms next year, targeting the mid-to-high-end laptop market. However, reviews of Strix Point already show that, while performance has improved, energy efficiency remains stagnant—a problem that could persist with future Zen 5-based products.

This opens a window of opportunity for Arrow Lake, which is now powered by TSMC’s process. If Arrow Lake can offer higher peak performance than Raptor Lake Refresh or Meteor Lake while maintaining strong energy efficiency—and with better OEM partnerships—AMD’s hard-earned foothold in the mid-to-high-end market may once again be overshadowed by Intel.

Facing competition shifts due to process changes is nothing new for AMD. As mentioned in the TechNews report, when NVIDIA launched the RTX 30 series on Samsung’s 8LPU (8nm) process, early issues with leakage and high power consumption gave AMD’s RX 6000 series GPUs, known for their superior performance and energy efficiency, a competitive edge. The high-end 6800 and 6900 models were even able to compete with NVIDIA’s RTX 3080. However, once NVIDIA returned to TSMC for the RTX 40 series, AMD struggled to keep up and eventually abandoned its high-end GPU plans, shifting focus to niche markets.

TechNews concludes that while next year may see the lowest degree of processor process diversity—since almost everyone is using TSMC—it will also be a critical year to evaluate the true design strengths of each semiconductor company. With AMD’s Zen 5 already on the table, all eyes are now on Intel’s Arrow Lake to see what surprises it brings to the market with TSMC’s technology.

(Photo credit: AMD)