Intel has started preparing Linux for two processor families that are still years away. A kernel patch sent on 13 November adds the identification numbers for Razor Lake, the chips after Nova Lake, and for Coral Rapids, a future Xeon server line.
Nothing in the patch tells buyers what the chips will do. It is the first, routine step: the kernel has to know a processor’s family and model number before later patches can add support for its features.
Tony Luck of Intel posted the patch to the x86 maintainers. Its description says the numbers come from Intel’s November 2026 “Intel Architecture Instruction Set Extensions and Future Features” document, which lists Coral Rapids and four Razor Lake variants.
In the patch, Coral Rapids is family 19, model 8. Razor Lake is family 18, model 6, and the three other variants take models 7, 9 and 10 in the same family. They are named Razor Lake L, U and S in the code. Nova Lake sits in family 18 as well, at models 1 and 3, so Razor Lake continues the same numbering.
The change is tiny, just seven new lines in the kernel’s list of Intel CPU families. Intel’s own description of the variants says two are for desktops and two for mobile.
Patches that actually use these definitions are the next step, since the kernel needs the model numbers first. Until one appears, the model numbers are the only public detail, and Intel’s patch gives no launch date, core counts or socket for either family.
