Chip giant Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) maintains a webpage where it lists the code names of past, present, and future platforms for both personal computer and data center applications.
To gain access to the details of these products, one needs to be an authorized Intel partner, which I am not, but merely knowing the code names of these platforms can help us gain some insight into what Chipzilla is planning to roll out in the quarters -- and even years -- ahead.
On this webpage, a new platform code name recently popped up: Monette Hill. The description of Monette Hill is short and sweet: "Desktop Platform."
While we don't know what exactly Monette Hill is, let's explore a couple of possibilities.
Image source: Intel.
It could be a 14-nanometer+++ chip
In early October 2017, Intel released a new processor family called Coffee Lake. The initial round of Coffee Lake chips were mainly targeted at the gaming and enthusiast desktop PC markets, with the full lineup of Coffee Lake chips targeted at the broader desktop PC market scheduled to launch in early 2018.
While it has been believed for quite some time that the follow-on to Coffee Lake for desktops (formally known as Coffee Lake-S) would be the company's Ice Lake-S chips, plans may have changed. Ice Lake-S is supposed to bring an all-new chip design to market, which could help deliver a dramatic boost in performance, power consumption, and features. It's also supposed to be manufactured using the company's 10-nanometer+ technology -- a higher-performing version of the company's seemingly troubled 10-nanometer technology.
However, if Intel's 10-nanometer+ manufacturing technology won't be ready to handle the brunt of the company's desktop processor volumes -- if, say the manufacturing yields are too low to be cost-effective or performance just doesn't come up to scratch -- then it could make sense for Intel to use a yet again enhanced version of its 14-nanometer manufacturing technology to handle this market.
Intel is already believed to be preparing processors based on a fourth-generation 14-nanometer technology, known as 14-nanometer+++, for the notebook PC market during the second half of 2018 (these will be known as Whiskey Lake), so this possibility for Monette Hill makes sense.
It could be the successor to Ice Lake-S
Alternatively, Monette Hill could be the successor to Ice Lake-S in the desktop market. In Intel's code-name decoder, the company explicitly lists Tiger Lake -- the follow-on to Ice Lake -- as "client notebook platforms."