Intel is gearing up to reintroduce a powerful data processing feature — AVX-512 — with its upcoming Nova Lake processors. While not a brand-new innovation, this technology can deliver a substantial boost in performance for demanding workloads.
AVX-512 was available in some of Intel’s earlier CPUs but was dropped starting with the 12th-generation Alder Lake chips. The change came due to conflicts with Intel’s hybrid core design, where the smaller, energy-efficient E-cores were unable to handle AVX-512 instructions. To maintain system stability and ensure broad compatibility, Intel decided to remove the feature from recent releases.
AMD already supports the resource with the recent Ryzen
Intel’s decision to bring back AVX-512 is widely viewed as a move to meet the rising demand for AI-ready performance in personal computers. This shift also aligns Intel more closely with AMD, which has offered full AVX-512 support in its Zen 4 4-based Ryzen processors for both desktop and mobile platforms. Alongside this, Intel plans to revive another recently discontinued technology.
Clues about the return surfaced in a recent Intel software update, which added preliminary support for the feature in “future Intel Core processors.” While Intel hasn’t officially confirmed it will debut with the Nova Lake lineup, that’s the most likely scenario given the company’s current development focus on those chips, as well as the upcoming Panther Lake CPUs for laptops.
AVX-512, created by Intel, effectively doubles data bandwidth, enabling twice the amount of information to be processed per cycle. This boost can significantly accelerate workloads involving massive datasets, such as AI processing on local machines, complex scientific modeling, and high-quality video rendering.
