Intel Corp. today unveiled six new 10th-generation processors for premium laptops, including an eight-core model that it claims offers the fastest clock speed in the category.

The Core i9-10980HK, the star of the lineup, has eight cores capable of running a combined 16 threads at once. The chip can boost its base frequency of 2.4 gigahertz to as high as 5.3 gigahertz when an application requires extra horsepower, which Intel says gives it the highest clock speed of any mobile processor. That includes rival Advanced Micro Systems Inc.’s newest Ryzen 4000 laptop-grade central processing units.

Intel claims that a machine featuring the Core i9-10980HK would be capable of providing up to 44% better performance than a three-year-old system. According to the company, the speed boost means creative professionals can render 4K video twice as fast in the best-case scenario while video games run with up to 54% frames per second.

Three of the other processors Intel debuted today are also capable of reaching the 5GHz mark. Their base frequencies range from 2.3GHz to 2.7GHz while maximum clock speeds top out at 5.1GHz.

Intel managed to beat out AMD in the clock speed department by incorporating two frequency optimization technologies into the lineup. The first, Thermal Velocity Boost, increases the clock speed of the entire processor, while the second feature is called Turbo Boost Max and accelerates only the specific cores that operate most efficiently in elevated temperatures.

Intel’s hardware partners plan to launch more than 100 laptops based on the new chips this year. The first models are expected to become available in the coming weeks.

Intel’s six new CPUs are all based on the 14-nanometer Comet Lake architecture it debuted last August. That same month, the company started mass producing chips based on its 10-nanometer process, which uses more modern fabrication technologies and provides better efficiency.

AMD is one step ahead with its competing Ryzen 4000 laptop processors, which are manufactured on foundry operator TSMC Co. Ltd.’s even smaller seven-nanometer processor. Intel doesn’t expects to bring its own seven-nanometer manufacturing operation online until next year. Yet despite the competition’s head start, Intel Chief Financial Officer George Davis said last month that the company expects to reach “parity” with TSMC and possibly Samsung  Electronics Co. Ltd. as well in 2021.

Davis also revealed that Intel has a goal of gaining a manufacturing advantage over other chipmakers by the time five-nanometer processors start entering the market.

Photo: Intel