Intel unveils Panther Lake Core Ultra CPUs at CES 2026

Intel unveiled its Panther Lake Core Ultra Series 3 processors at its CES 2026 keynote in Las Vegas, the company said, marking the launch of chips built on its new 18A manufacturing node. Intel said the Panther Lake family delivers nearly 50% more performance than its Lunar Lake chips while improving power efficiency.

The processors feature up to 16 cores, a built-in Intel Arc GPU using Xe3 architecture, and a new NPU rated up to 50 TOPS. Intel said the platform supports LPDRR5 memory up to 9GB at speeds of up to 9600 MT/s and DDR5 up to 128GB, and that the 18A base configuration uses eight cores (four P-cores and four LP-cores).

The company also said the Xe3 GPU provides about 3.8 times more TOPS than the previous Arrow Lake generation. Intel introduced new Core Ultra X9 and X7 SKUs that it says pair Arc graphics with up to 16 CPU cores, 12 Xe cores and 50 NPU TOPS for advanced workloads, gaming and content creation.

The article said Panther Lake chips are already appearing in 2026 systems from major manufacturers, including Dell's XPS and HP's EliteBook G2i.

Key Topics

Tech, Intel, Panther Lake, Core Ultra, Intel Arc