News in the World of Processors: Intel Panther Lake Passes First Tests, and AMD Prepares Open-Source Zen 6 Medusa

Changes are coming to the chip market: Intel is testing its Panther Lake processors, while AMD has confirmed the names of its new chips, Zen 6, along with their open-source firmware.

Intel Panther Lake: What the Tests Show

Benchmark results for the Intel Panther Lake mobile processor lineup have appeared online.

Mid-range models, Core Ultra X7 358H and Core Ultra 5 338H, achieved Cinebench R23 scores of around 20,000 and 16,000 points respectively. The source also claims that the Core Ultra X7 358H turned out to be 10% slower than the Core Ultra 255H, despite having the same power consumption of 60–65 W.

It’s important to note that these results are preliminary and obtained under limited conditions; real-world performance may differ.

AMD Zen 6 Medusa and open firmware

At the OCP Global Summit 2025, AMD officially revealed details about the Zen 6 architecture. The official codename for desktop/mobile chips is Medusa, and for server processors, Venice. The closed AGESA firmware will be replaced with openSIL, an open silicon initialization platform.

According to AMD’s roadmap, EPYC Venice Zen 6 will be the first processors to feature openSIL and are expected to launch in 2026. In 2027, desktop chips Medusa Ridge and mobile chips Medusa Point will also arrive with open firmware.

The Medusa family is expected to feature more cores, a larger cache, and improved memory performance.