Intel may be having difficulty bringing 10nm to desktop processors now, but this isn't the first time the 10nm process has given the company trouble. Back before Ice Lake, Intel's first 10nm mobile line was actually the ill-fated Cannon Lake. While it was originally set to be a much bigger deal, with several chips planned for launch, it eventually only saw one processor hit the market, and only in China. That processor, the Core i3-8121U, shipped with disabled internal graphics, and new code today sees Intel essentially admitting that support for the line is dead. As well as slyly hinting at the company's feelings towards it.
Prior to today, Intel's Linux graphics drivers had code for Cannon Lake CPUs using 10th Gen iGPUs. But since no Cannon Lake chips were ever released that take advantage of that, Intel's decided to do some pruning on the drivers' code. With extreme prejudice.
The latest Intel merge on the drivers says "We don't need CNL-only code. This series kills it all with fire."
Well, now we know how Intel's Linux driver developers feel about Cannon Lake. And since the merge was able to reduce the drivers' code by just under 11,000 lines, we don't blame them.
If you ask Intel today, it will say that Ice Lake was its first "mass 10nm shipment." Cannon Lake, it seems, is something it would rather forget. Many Cannon Lake products were cancelled along with its other chips, and it's most well-known for being in a low-power education focused Chinese Ideapad. But as much as it tries to erase Cannon Lake- literally, in this case - it still comes to mind given Intel's current problems bringing 10nm processors to the desktop.
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