The new Zen 5 has a much better single-thread performance than any available Intel CPU.
For instance a slow 5.5 GHz Zen 5 matches or exceeds a 6.0 GHz Raptor Lake in single-thread performance. The faster Zen 5 models, which will be launched in a couple of days, will beat easily any Intel.
Nevertheless, in a couple of months Intel will launch Arrow Lake S, which will have a very close single-thread performance to Zen 5, perhaps very slightly higher.
Because Arrow Lake S will be completely made by TSMC, it will have a much better energy efficiency than the older Intel CPUs and also than AMD Zen 5, because it will use a superior TSMC "3 nm" process. On the other hand, it is expected to have the same maximum clock frequency as AMD Zen 5, so its single thread performance will no longer be helped by a higher clock frequency, like in Raptor Lake.
> in a couple of months Intel will launch Arrow Lake S, which will have a very close single-thread performance to Zen 5
Will they? Intel Innovation event was postponed "until 2025"[1], so I assumed there is not going to be any big launch like that in 2024, anymore? Arrow Lake S was supposed to debut at Intel Innovation event in September [2]
The Intel Innovation event was canceled to save money. This has nothing to do with the actual launch of future products, which are expected to bring more money. Intel can make a cheap on-line product launch, like most such launches after COVID.
Since the chips of Arrow Lake S are made at TSMC and Intel does only packaging and testing, like also for Lunar Lake, there will be no manufacturing problems.
The only thing that could delay the Arrow Lake S launch would be a bug so severe that it would require a new set of masks. For now there is no information about something like this.
For instance a slow 5.5 GHz Zen 5 matches or exceeds a 6.0 GHz Raptor Lake in single-thread performance. The faster Zen 5 models, which will be launched in a couple of days, will beat easily any Intel.
Nevertheless, in a couple of months Intel will launch Arrow Lake S, which will have a very close single-thread performance to Zen 5, perhaps very slightly higher.
Because Arrow Lake S will be completely made by TSMC, it will have a much better energy efficiency than the older Intel CPUs and also than AMD Zen 5, because it will use a superior TSMC "3 nm" process. On the other hand, it is expected to have the same maximum clock frequency as AMD Zen 5, so its single thread performance will no longer be helped by a higher clock frequency, like in Raptor Lake.