Intel's upcoming Core Ultra Series 4 "Nova Lake-S" could be the company's first desktop processor series to offer Microsoft Copilot+ native acceleration capability. The NPU of "Nova Lake" offers throughput of 74 TOPS, far exceeding the 40 TOPS required by Copilot+. Intel already met this with its "Lunar Lake" mobile processors, but its current "Arrow Lake-S" and upcoming "Arrow Lake-S Refresh" processors only do 13 TOPS as they implement an older generation NPU carried over from "Meteor Lake."

This is not to say that all desktop processor models of "Nova Lake-S" offer 74 TOPS, some could offer lower throughput, but there's plenty of product segmentation room for Intel to ensure that even its cheapest retail model offers at least 40 TOPS to meet Copilot+ requirements. AMD might end up beating Intel to the title of first socketed desktop processor with a Copilot+ capable NPU. The company could launch its Ryzen AI 400 series "Gorgon Point" Socket AM5 APUs sooner than Intel's rumored late-2026 debut of the Core Ultra Series 4 desktop processors.

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