Intel today took to stage at CES 2026 to unveil its new Intel Core Ultra Series 3 (codenamed Panther Lake) processors making it the company’s first AI PC platform built on Intel’s 18A or 2nm process technology.
According to Intel, the new processors will power laptops from leading OEMs worldwide, spanning premium and mainstream segments, and the company notes that over 200 designs are in the pipeline. The new mobile Intel CPU lineup debuts Intel Core Ultra X9 and X7 mobile processors with high-performance Intel Arc graphics. These chips are meant for power users handling advanced workloads such as gaming, content creation, and productivity on the go.
Top-end configurations feature up to 16 CPU cores, 12 Xe-cores, and 50 neural processing unit (NPU) TOPS. Intel claims performance gains of up to 60% in multithreaded tasks, 77% faster gaming, and battery life extending to 27 hours.
Alongside these premium models, Intel is also releasing Core processors based on the same architecture but tuned for mainstream laptops at lower price points.
Intel says that certified edge processors are also launching that are designed for embedded and industrial environments. These are said to offer extended temperature support, deterministic performance, and other benefits. Intel highlights its competitive advantages in critical AI workloads wherein it promises up to 1.9x higher large language model performance, 2.3x better efficiency in video analytics, and 4.5x higher throughput on vision-language-action models.
In terms of availability, Intel notes that pre-orders for consumer laptops begin today on January 6, 2026, with global availability starting a bit later on January 27. Additional designs will roll out through the first half (H1) of 2026. Meanwhile, edge systems powered by Series 3 are scheduled for release later in Q2 2026.