Intel's Core Ultra Series 3 processors, the first consumer chips built on the company's groundbreaking 18A process technology, officially went on sale worldwide on Monday, January 27. The launch marks a pivotal moment for Intel as it seeks to reclaim manufacturing leadership with processors designed and fabricated entirely in the United States.
The new Panther Lake mobile platform delivers significant performance leaps over its predecessor, Lunar Lake. Intel claims up to 60 percent better multithread performance, over 77 percent faster gaming across 45 titles at 1080p high settings, and battery life reaching up to 27 hours on Netflix streaming tests. The lineup features up to 16 CPU cores, 12 Xe-cores for integrated Arc graphics, and a neural processing unit delivering 50 TOPS for on-device AI workloads.
Intel introduced two new performance tiers within the Series 3 family: Core Ultra X9 and Core Ultra X7 processors, targeting gamers, content creators, and power users. Mainstream designs at lower price points will also be available under the standard Core processor branding. A total of 14 mobile SKUs are launching today, with additional chips expected later this year.
The 18A process node represents Intel's most advanced manufacturing technology, featuring RibbonFET transistor architecture and PowerVia backside power delivery. This is a significant departure from Lunar Lake, which relied on TSMC for its compute tile fabrication. With Series 3, all compute tiles are manufactured in Intel's own foundries, though platform and certain GPU tiles are still sourced from TSMC.
Jim Johnson, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Intel's Client Computing Group, stated that with Series 3, the company is laser-focused on improving power efficiency, adding more CPU performance, delivering a bigger GPU in a class of its own, more AI compute, and app compatibility users can count on with x86 architecture.
More than 200 PC designs from leading global manufacturers are expected to feature Core Ultra Series 3 processors. Pre-orders began on January 6, and the first consumer laptops became available globally starting today. Edge computing systems powered by the new processors will follow in the first quarter of 2026.
The launch comes at a critical time for Intel, which has faced intense competition from AMD, Apple, and Qualcomm in the laptop market. Industry analysts are watching closely to see whether the 18A node can deliver on Intel's promises of performance and efficiency gains that could help the company regain market share in both consumer and enterprise segments.
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