LLVM Compiler Adds Support For Next-Gen Intel Arrow Lake & Lunar Lake CPUs

The LLVM 18 compiler has added support for Intel's upcoming Arrow Lake, and Lunar Lake CPUs which are scheduled for 2024.

Intel Arrow Lake & Lunar Lake CPUs For Next-Gen PCs Are Now Supported Within LLVM 18 Compiler

Previously, we reported the addition of several instructions set on the GCC 14 compiler. These instructions included AVX-VNNI-INT16, SHA512, SM3, and SM4. These are important since they will be an integral part of the upcoming CPUs starting with Intel's Meteor Lake lineup in boosting AI and machine learning applications. Now, Phoronix reveals that the same instructions are now added to LLVM, along with "-march= CPU" targets for respective Intel architecture including the Arrow Lake & Lunar Lake CPUs.

Image Source: LLVM (Github)

The source also highlights that the Intel Arrow Lake and Lunar Lake will continue to use the current Alder Lake scheduler model and tuning. Moreover, the instructions mentioned above are limited to Arrow Lake-S and Lunar Lake. The standard Arrow Lake chips (mobility) are likely to retain similar instructions as Sierra Forest chips which arrive in the first half of 2024. It is interesting that Intel's Arrow Lake-S is specifically listed since these are the desktop parts that will be landing on the LGA 1851 socketed platform on the 800-series motherboards sometime in late 2024. Meanwhile, Lunar Lake just like Meteor Lake is likely going to be a mobile-only launch.

Highlighting such additions is important for two main reasons. The first being is to show readers the development stages that are involved before a release of an architecture. Secondly, tiny bits of information often hint towards a new feature that would be included in a future release. With that said, it is important to see Intel's efforts toward providing preliminary support for its upcoming lineup, unlike AMD, which is known to prepare such releases as late as a month before the official launch.

Written by Muhammad Zuhair