Intel Panther Lake breaks into laptops and edge processors with Core Ultra Series 3

Intel has taken advantage of the CES showcase in Las Vegas to officially announce the arrival of Panther Lake, its new generation of processors for laptops which will be marketed as Intel Core Ultra Series 3It's not a simple generational change: it represents the first high-volume product manufactured with the Intel 18A node, the process with which the company wants to regain ground against its rivals and reaffirm its industrial capacity.

With Panther Lake, Intel moves beyond promises and into concrete deadlines: The first laptops with Core Ultra Series 3 processors are now available for pre-order. and its global rollout begins at the end of January; anyone who wants buy an Ultra laptop You'll soon find options on the market. The company has a lot at stake, because this launch serves as a litmus test for its new manufacturing technology and its strategy around the AI-powered PC, both in consumer and professional uses and at the edge.

What is Panther Lake and what role does Intel 18A play?

The real turning point is in the manufacturing process. Intel 18A is the most advanced node the company has developed. And the first to reach the market as a commercial volume product, designed and produced in the United States. It incorporates RibbonFET (Gate-All-Around) transistors and PowerVia technology for rear-mounted power supply, with the aim of improving current control, reducing losses, and increasing density.

According to data provided by the company, this combination of technologies allows improvements of around 15% in performance per wattThis represents over 30% greater chip density and up to 40% greater energy efficiency compared to the previous generation. Beyond the numbers, Intel aims to demonstrate its ability to deliver a node on time, a node that is crucial to its roadmap and to attracting customers to its foundry business.

Panther Lake also arrives after part of the previous generation, Lunar Lake, relied on external manufacturing, mainly at TSMC. Intel's move with 18A seeks to regain control of its production and offer a competitive alternative to AMD and other firms in both performance and availability.

New Core Ultra X9 and X7: the most ambitious range

Within the mobile family, the big news is the processors Core Ultra X9 and Core Ultra X7These processors now occupy the top of the product range. They are designed for high-performance laptops, mobile workstations, portable consoles, and compact devices that require significant power without a dedicated GPU.

Top-of-the-range models, such as the Intel Core Ultra X9 388HThey feature a configuration of up to 16 cores distributed across 4 P-cores, 8 E-cores, and 4 LP E-cores, all of which are next-generation. On this chip, the maximum Boost frequency reaches 5,1 GHz and it is accompanied by 18 MB of LLC cache, without hyperthreading, resulting in 16 physical threads.

In the graphic section, Processors with the X suffix integrate the Intel Arc B390 GPU or its professional variantwith 12 Xe cores. This is the largest integrated GPU Intel has ever included in a laptop SoC. The company It claims to offer 120 TOPS of AI performance, 12 improved ray tracing units, 16 MB of cache and support for technologies such as DirectX 12 Ultimate and XeSS 3 with AI-powered frame generation.

In terms of overall performance, Intel speaks of up to 60% more multi-core performance compared to the previous Ultra 2 series in tests such as Cinebench 2024 at 25W, of a Up to 77% jump in 1080p gaming with high settings on a battery of dozens of titles, and potential battery life of up to 27 hours of streaming playback under certain configurations.

Below the X9 388H are models such as the Core Ultra 9 386H, that It retains the 16 CPU cores but reduces the graphics capabilities to an Intel Graphics solution with 4 Xe CoresThere are also variants such as the Core Ultra X7 368H, with 16 cores up to 5 GHz and Arc B390 GPU, or the Core Ultra 7 366H, which retains the 16 cores but with a maximum frequency of 4,8 GHz and more modest integrated graphics.

Core Ultra Series 3 range for general-purpose laptops

The Panther Lake family is not limited to the most powerful models. Intel completes the lineup with Core Ultra 7 and Core Ultra 5 processors aimed at mid-range computers and thinner laptops, maintaining the same base architecture but with reduced configurations in cores, frequencies and graphics.

Within the Ultra 7 range we find chips such as the Core Ultra 7 365H, which offer 16 cores and frequencies up to 4,7 GHz, as well as 8-core variants such as the Core Ultra 7 365 and the Core Ultra 7 355, designed for devices where power consumption and cost are more important than raw performance.

The Core Ultra 5 segment combines 12-core and 8-core models, some with the X suffix and the Arc B370 GPU, and others with simpler Intel graphics. In all cases, The integrated NPUs have slightly reduced capacity compared to the higher-end models., moving in ranges between 46 and 47 TOPS, but maintaining the focus on accelerating AI tasks.

An important feature of the platform is its compatibility with high-capacity LPDDR5X memoryIntel indicates that the Core Ultra Series 3 can work with up to 96 GB in standard configurations, while certain specific designs, such as some mini PCs, point to even higher figures for very specific uses.

With this strategy, the company aims to ensure that the advantages of Panther Lake are not limited to high-end laptops, but also reach... more affordable and widespread equipment, including those that will be sold in large stores and through European integrators.

Intel Arc B390: A leap forward in integrated graphics and gaming on PC and portable consoles

The most striking feature of Panther Lake, especially for those who play on PC or work with graphic content, is the Intel Arc B390 integrated GPUThis unit is housed in its own graphics chiplet within the SoC, a modular approach that allows for scaling capabilities and improving performance without increasing power consumption.

La The Arc B390 integrates 12 Xe Cores, 12 next-generation ray tracing units, 16 MB of cache, and 96 dedicated AI XMX engines.In its full configuration, reaches up to 120 TOPS of computation for artificial intelligence workloads, something especially relevant for tasks such as image rescaling, frame generation, advanced real-time effects, or acceleration of local models.

Intel claims that this integrated GPU is capable of outperforming solutions like the Radeon 890M included in AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processors, which are very popular in current handheld consoles. With this technology Intel XeSS 3 and Multi Frame GenerationThe company states that in next-generation games such as Battlefield 6 Up to 145 frames per second can be achieved with high quality settings.

This positioning opens an interesting door in Europe for manufacturers of portable consoles and compact gaming equipment, a segment in which AMD has dominated quite clearly until now. Acer, MSI, and other partners are already working on devices based on Panther Lake.Therefore, it is expected that throughout the year we will see models bearing the seal of well-known brands in the Spanish market.

Beyond gaming, the Arc B390's graphics power is useful for content creators, video and photo editing, lightweight 3D display and applications that exploit AI acceleration directly on the device, something that is beginning to spread in productivity tools and creative suites.

AI everywhere: up to 180 TOPS on the Panther Lake platform

One of the central themes of Intel's discourse surrounding Panther Lake is artificial intelligence. The company emphasizes that The Core Ultra Series 3 platform can achieve up to 180 TOPS by combining CPU, GPU, and NPU.Of that total, about 120 TOPS come from the Arc B390 GPU, up to 50 TOPS from the integrated NPU, and around 10 additional TOPS from the CPU.

With this level of power, Intel claims its new processors offer approximately 4,3 times greater performance in large language models (LLM) It outperforms an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and performs twice as well as its own previous Core Ultra 200H processors in certain internal benchmarks. On paper, this translates to smoother execution of local assistants, content creation tools, and analytics applications.

In the area of ​​edge and embedded systems, the company talks about significant advantages over platforms like NVIDIA Jetson Orin for inference on end devices. It cites figures of up to 1,9 times higher performance in LLMs, up to 2,3 times better performance per watt and per euro in end-to-end video analytics, and up to 4,5 times higher throughput in vision-language-action (VLA) models.

Integrating the CPU, GPU, and NPU into a single SoC also allows for simplify the design of the devices and reduce the total cost of ownership, something that may be especially interesting for European integrators working on smart city, transport, retail or digital health projects.

In the consumer PC market, these capabilities are geared towards so-called "AI PCs": laptops capable of running AI models locally, without constantly relying on the cloud. For the end user, the promise lies in improved personal assistant features, generative content creation without overloading the network connection and for smoother work experiences with intensive multitasking.

Panther Lake is also coming to the edge of the industry.

Intel doesn't want Panther Lake to be limited to traditional laptops. Alongside consumer models, the company has introduced edge versions of Core Ultra Series 3 with specific certifications for embedded and industrial use, designed to operate 24/7 and in extended temperature ranges.

These processors are designed for field equipment, intelligent video surveillance systems, digital signage, industrial automation, or connected healthcare solutions, among others. The goal is to bring AI inference closer to the point where the data is generated.reducing latency and dependence on remote data centers.

Executives like Jim Johnson have pointed out that The company will continue to invest in trends such as "vibe coding".that is, the AI-assisted software developmentas well as improving communication between the cloud and the edge. In Europe, where there is a strong regulatory push for data protection, this local approach to AI can be a good fit for projects where sensitive information cannot leave the country or the facility itself.

The combination of performance, efficiency, and AI support on a single chip It aims to become a compelling argument against solutions composed of multiple components.For integrators and manufacturers of industrial systems, having a standardized platform How Panther Lake can simplify certifications and reduce validation cycles.

First devices and presence in next-generation mini PCs

In terms of final products, Intel claims that The Core Ultra Series 3 will bring to life more than 200 designs from manufacturers around the world, encompassing consumer laptops, professional equipment, creative workstations, and compact systems.

The official calendar marks the start of reservations for the first consumer laptops from January 6th, with global availability from January 27Throughout the first half of the year, additional new designs will be released, while edge and industrial systems are expected from the second quarter onwards.

Among the teams already announced, one that stands out is, for example, the GMKtec EVO-T2 mini PCAlso presented at CES, this device has been touted as one of the first to integrate the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H processor and, therefore, as one of the first commercial machines based on Panther Lake and the Intel 18A process.

El The EVO-T2 boasts the ability to accommodate up to 128 GB of LPDDR5X RAM at speeds close to 10.677 MT/sIn addition to having dual Ethernet interfaces, DisplayPort and HDMI video outputs, two USB-C ports, several USB 3.0 ports, and Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5 wireless connectivity. Their focus ranges from local AI applications to gaming and content creation, taking advantage of both the power of the CPU and the Arc B390 GPU.

The first leaked performance data for the Core Ultra X9 388H in tests like Geekbench 6.5 points to figures around 3.057 points in single-core and 17.687 points in multi-coreThese scores would place it above solutions like the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 in certain scenarios, and bring it closer to desktop processors like the Intel Core i7-13700K or the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, always taking into account the differences in power consumption and product range.

For European users, it is expected that both major international brands and manufacturers specializing in mini PCs and barebone solutions will begin showcasing their first Panther Lake offerings throughout 2026, with configurations tailored to different budgets and needs.

With Panther Lake and the new Core Ultra Series 3 processors, Intel enters a key phase, combining a next-generation manufacturing node, a significantly more capable integrated GPU, and a strong commitment to artificial intelligence in both traditional laptops and edge and industrial applications. It remains to be seen how the promises of performance, efficiency, and battery life will translate into real-world use in Europe and Spain, but the platform is shaping up to be one of the most relevant company moves in the PC market in recent years.