Intel expects systems with 10nm Cannon Lake CPU chips to finally arrive by the end of 2019.

Intel expects systems with 10nm Cannon Lake CPU chips to finally arrive by the end of 2019.

Intel offered some clarification about where things are with their 10-nanometer processors 'Cannon Lake', and specifically when we finally see them in volume. As it stands, consumer systems with 10nm chips inside will reach stores during next year's holiday season.

We still do not have a precise release date, but at least now we have a smaller window to set our expectations. Previously, Intel only said that Cannon Lake was on track to ship in volume sometime in 2019, but there was no indication of whether that meant early next year, mid-2019, or in the queue. It turns out that it is the last one.

This is the release we've been waiting for, unlike the low-volume release of 10nm Core i3 chips that have appeared on some OEM laptops in Asia. According to reports, Intel has had problems with its performance, so Cannon Lake took so long to reach the status of mass delivery.

Getting to 10nm production has turned out to be more challenging than Intel could have anticipated. The chip maker has never gone into details, although one of the rumors that circulate is that it has to do with getting integrated graphics to work with 10nm silicon. It is notable that the Intel Core i3-8121U, its first and still only 10nm processor, has no integrated graphics.