Something to look forward to: The only media available thus far for Intel's Alder Lake CPU has been limited to renders and packaging leaks. Now, though, the company has finally shared an official image of the upcoming chip.

The vice president of Intel's Client Computing Group, Gregory Bryant, revealed the first look at the 12th-gen processor on Twitter, showing an employee holding two Alder Lake chips, displaying both the CPU's front and back.

In terms of a release date, the tweet only references a launch that's "coming soon." But it's expected that Intel will officially announce the chips at its Innovation event taking place on October 27-28. Customers will naturally be able to pre-order Alder Lake following the reveal, with the chips expected to arrive from November 4.

Alder Lake processors will make use of a new hybrid architecture consisting of two core types: high-performance and high-efficiency. One particular leak regarding performance suggests that the CPUs will have a memory controller that allows DDR5 memory to be pushed to a level not seen in DDR4. This will make it an attractive choice in the lucrative PC gaming market. However, prices for Alder Lake remain a concern for consumers if leaks are to be believed. And with the current global shortage of chips, scalpers will lead to costs skyrocketing.

Still, as anticipation builds for the chip, Intel has a lot riding on its upcoming CPU. It simply can't afford for it to not be a breakout success. AMD has closed the once-wide gap between the two rivals, with its products dominating the CPU market. Earlier this year, AMD overtook Intel in the global desktop CPU industry – a significant feat that took fifteen years.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger recently declared that the company is "back," and stated that AMD's lead is over. He commended the efforts shown by Intel's main competitor in the past few years but believes Alder Lake and Sapphire Rapids will see the firm return back to the apex of semiconductor chip manufacturers. It's an ambitious task, especially considering it'll go head-to-head with AMD's Zen 4 Ryzen CPUs in 2022.

One step to demonstrate Intel's commitment to regaining lost market share is its plan to invest up to $94.7 billion towards building new chip plants in Europe.