Intel Arrow Lake refresh might not have a new NPU after all — latest reports indicate a clock speed bump only

Just a few days ago, Intel's upcoming Arrow Lake-S desktop refresh was leaked again, and this time, we learned that it's allegedly coming in the second half of 2025. Paired with a new NPU and higher clock speeds, the refresh would still be binned on Intel's 20A node and bring modest improvements to the lineup. However, a new tweet from leaker Jaykihn now suggests that there won't be any upgrades to AI capability in Arrow Lake 2.0, as it's said to retain the same NPU present in the current processors.

Intel introduced the upgraded NPU 4 in last year's Lunar Lake. It leapfrogged the company's existing mobile chips to become Microsoft Copilot+ certified, as the NPU has up to 48 TOPS of AI performance. Arrow Lake, Intel's desktop lineup, has the older NPU 3, which debuted back in 2023 with Meteor Lake. As such, it falls short of the 40 TOPS minimum requirement for Copilot+ because NPU 3 is only capable of 11.5 TOPS. If the tipster is to be believed, even two years later, Intel's desktop CPUs will still be equipped with an outdated AI module that cannot compete with mobile-first offerings from AMD or Apple.

If there is no new NPU with the Arrow Lake refresh, then a slight bump to clock speeds is the only 'upgrade' the Blue Team will bring to the table, and that's just not enough. Let's be clear, AMD has somewhat gone down the same road with its gen-over-gen refresh upgrades, relying more on X3D improvements down the line, rather than major architectural breakthroughs, though that's reportedly about to change. Unfortunately, Intel's sales have been in a constant decline over the past few years, so they need a more substantial overhaul than AMD.

Last week, CEO Lip-Bu Tan said that Intel is "not in the top 10 semiconductor companies" in the world anymore — not something you'd want hear from your leader, even if it's an exaggeration. The company has Panther Lake and Nova Lake lined up as its next launches for laptops and desktops, respectively. Panther Lake will finally bring Intel's long-awaited 18A process to the market, the Blue Team's Hail Mary that should propel them a few ranks in bleeding-edge chip manufacturing. Therefore, even if Arrow Lake's refresh—regardless of it having the new NPU or not—looks underwhelming, Intel is still alive and doing exciting things we can all look forward to. After all, more competition is better, for us.