Intel is reportedly planning to extend its four-digit Core Ultra 4000 naming convention to the upcoming Nova Lake-HX mobile processors. According to industry leaker Jaykihn, this branding will apply specifically to the HX series, while standard H-series and suffix-less laptop chips will retain the three-digit format used in previous generations.
The decision to group HX processors under the 4000 series aligns them with the Nova Lake-S desktop lineup. Historically, HX chips are BGA versions of desktop silicon, which explains the shared naming strategy. Previous leaks, including a CPU-Z entry for the Core Ultra 9 4950K, had already hinted at the adoption of the 4000HX designation for high-performance laptops.
Leaked documentation for the Nova Lake-S desktop series previously revealed model names such as Core Ultra 9 4970K BFC and Core Ultra 7 4870K BFC. The BFC suffix is believed to denote processors equipped with big last-level cache. Additionally, reports indicate that non-BFC models will retain four LPE cores, despite some inconsistencies in earlier leaked tables.
While qualification samples for Nova Lake-S have already appeared in HWiNFO, Intel has not yet officially confirmed these naming changes. Current projections suggest a market launch for the new processor architecture in early 2027. This shift will likely result in two distinct naming schemes coexisting within the same mobile processor generation.
