Intel and Lenovo Collaborate on Next-Gen Laptops in New A-Si Lab
Intel and Lenovo have joined forces once again to push the boundaries of PC technology, with a new Advanced System Innovation (‘A-Si’) Lab in Shanghai. The pair has a long history of successful joint projects, including the ThinkPad X-series, and the relationship between the two seems stronger than ever as they attempt to engineer better PC solutions.
While specifics weren’t shared, we were given exclusive access to the Shanghai A-Si Lab, where engineers from both companies are collaborating on the future of PCs. Some of the work being done includes hardware-related issues like power management and thermals, but the engineers we spoke to acknowledged that software concerns are also a major challenge.
“It’s not easy to optimise the OS for our hardware,” one engineer tells us. “Especially for the laptops with discrete graphics, we have to work with the graphics driver developers to solve the problems.”
Intel also runs A-Si labs in Zizhu and Pudong, and all three locations are contributing to the partnership with Lenovo.
A notable achievement is the development of an OLED display driver capable of running two screens, which could open up exciting possibilities for future use cases.
Other co-engineering labs are also contributing to the partners’ PC efforts. For instance, Intel and Lenovo are also working with DRAM makers to enhance memory data transfer rates.
“There are many other companies out there working on similar issues to us,” the Lenovo engineer says. “Intel collaborates with other global PC OEMs and software vendors as well, and our collective goal is to overcome these technological barriers and engineer better PC solutions.”
With the Meteor Lake platform nearing completion, and the Lunar Lake platform on the horizon for 2024, it seems like the two companies have a lot to look forward to. We won’t hear about any of the details for the special project for now, but we’ll be sure to keep you updated on what’s happening at the labs.
Check out our Meteor Lake review, and our Lunar Lake preview to learn more about Intel’s upcoming chipsets.
