Intel Arc is the official brand for the Xe HPG (DG2) discrete gaming graphics

Intel today has unveiled the branding for its upcoming high-end discrete graphics which will be based on the Xe HPG architecture (codenamed DG2). Team Blue will be denoting all of such products based on DG2, be it hardware or software, under the all-new "Arc" branding.

In fact. the Arc branding will go beyond just DG2 as all future generations of Intel's discrete graphics will also be using Arc. Essentially Intel's Arc will be similar to Nvidia's GeForce and AMD's Radeon (originally ATI's).

Aside from the branding, the company has also revealed more details on its plans for the release of Arc products. Intel says that the first Arc products will come to both desktops and notebooks in the first quarter of next year (Q1 2022). It is rumored that the firm will be launching the first-generation Arc product lineups at the CES 2022 event. As stated above, this first generation of products will be based on Xe HPG (codenamed DG2). Intel has also revised the codename DG2 to "Alchemist".

Alongside Alchemist, the company has unveiled the codenames for the future generation of its Arc graphics products. They are:

• Battlemage (second-gen)
• Celestial (third-gen)
• Druid (fourth-gen)

More details on these upcoming architectures will probably be revealed later.

Speaking of details, Intel talked a little bit about first-gen Arc or Alchemist. The company reiterated that Alchemist will feature hardware-accelerated raytracing. There is also confirmation that Intel will also have its own AI-driven super-sampling technology like Nvidia's DLSS. The tech is rumored to be called XeSS, at least internally. Alchemist will also have full support for the DirectX 12 Ultimate API.

The company will likely talk a bit more about Alchemist at CES next year as it seems the primary focus for today's announcement was the revelation of its new Arc branding. You may find more details in the official press release here.