Alder Lake is Intel's codename for the 12th generation of Intel Core processors based on a hybrid architecture utilizing Golden Cove performance cores and Gracemont efficient cores.  It is fabricated using Intel's Intel 7 process, previously referred to as Intel 10 nm Enhanced SuperFin (10ESF). The 10ESF has a 10%-15% boost in performance over the 10SF used in the mobile Tiger Lake processors. Intel officially announced 12th Gen Intel Core CPUs on October 27, 2021,  mobile CPUs and non-K series desktop CPUs on January 4, 2022,  Alder Lake-P and -U series on February 23, 2022, and Alder Lake-HX series on May 10, 2022.
 It was announced in January 2022 that Intel Alder Lake would use a hybrid architecture combining performance and efficiency cores, similar to ARM big.LITTLE. This was the second Intel's hybrid architecture, after the mobile-only Lakefield released in June 2020. While the desktop Alder Lake processors were already on the market by January 2022, the mobile processors were not, although release was expected early that year. Starting cost were USD $289 for the Core i5-12600K. Gracemont was the name given to the efficiency cores, while Golden Cove cores were set for tasks such as gaming and video processing. First laptop tests were performed later that month, with PCMag positively reviewing the Core i9-12900HK, stating the H series represented "Intel's enthusiast line," with "the same hybrid designs" also in the P-series and U-series chips to come out later that year.
 In April 2022, press reported on "hints" that Intel was working on Alder Lake-X. Intel officially announced the HX processor series on May 10, 2022, including Core i5, Core i7 and Core i9 models, when Intel announced "seven new mobile processors for the 12th Gen Intel Core mobile family at its Intel Vision event. With the lineup based on Intel's desktop Alder Lake chips, it was named the Alder Lake-HX series, or 12th-gen Core HX, with the Core i9-12950HX as the flagship and Intel's first 16-core chip designed for laptops.
 For the Alder Lake generation, Intel produced 4 different dies. Each die has a different number of P-cores (P) and E-cores (E) and GPU Execution Units.
 Alder Lake requires special support from the operating system due to its relatively unusual-for-x86 hybrid nature. For software unable to be upgraded, a UEFI-provided compatibility mode may be used to disable the E cores; it is enabled by the user turning on scroll lock.
 The P and E cores of early versions of Alder Lake CPUs reported different CPUID models. This has caused issues with digital rights management systems that perceive the P and E cores as being separate computers, and falsely enforce license restrictions preventing a particular piece of software from being executed on more than one device at a time. Intel published a list of PC games it identified as having this compatibility issue, and stated that it was working with publishers to develop patches. Some of the games were identified by Intel as only having this bug on Windows 10, and functioning correctly on Windows 11 (with some of them dependent on Windows 11 patches scheduled to be released in November 2021). ExamSoft similarly stated that its monitoring software for educational assessments (such as the bar examination) was similarly incompatible with Alder Lake CPUs due to checks detecting virtual machines.
 This problem has been fixed in a microcode update. The P and E cores now return the same CPUID when both are enabled. A different CPUID is reported when E cores are disabled and only P cores are enabled. The AVX-512 instruction set extension is implemented in the P cores but disabled due to incompatibility with the E cores. Hackers have shown that it is possible to enable the AVX-512 instructions on the P cores when the E cores are disabled and an old microcode version is used.
 There are minor differences between the behavior of the two cores with regard to an undefined overflow flag in certain bitwise operations.
 Alder Lake's CPU topology has performance implications, especially for gaming environments where the developers are not used to NUMA setups. Microsoft added support for Intel Thread Director (ITD) in Windows 11. A wide variety of inputs, including whether a process' window is in the foreground, feeds into the ITD. The ITD can function to a lesser extent with the OS providing less or no cooperation. Support in Linux is merged in kernel 5.18 but this alone is not sufficient until the kernel gets hints from userspace in order to schedule tasks to run on certain types of cores.
 The CPU family no longer features Intel SGX which is a requirement for playing UltraHD Blu-Ray discs.
 These CPUs feature only E-cores and have 6MB of Smart Cache.
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 Most of these processors are identical to the corresponding Alder Lake-H and Alder Lake-U processors (without the L suffix) listed above.
 These CPUs feature 35 W minimum assured, 45 W base and 65 W maximum assured power consumption.
 These CPUs feature 12 W minimum assured, 15 W base and 28 W maximum assured power consumption.