Intel Arc GPUs for Desktops to Debut in Q2, New Cloud GPU Service Announced

Intel Arc GPUs for desktops have been delayed to the second quarter, the chipmaker has announced at its 2022 Investor Meeting. The GPUs were originally planned to debut in the first quarter. However, Intel is on track to start shipping its discrete Arc GPUs for laptops in the first quarter itself. The Santa Clara, California-based company also announced its cloud service called Project Endgame that is touted to offer access to Intel Arc GPUs virtually. Intel's latest moves are likely to give a tough fight to AMD and Nvidia — the two companies that have enjoyed a duopoly in the PC graphics market.

Unlike the original plans that were revealed in August last year, Intel announced on Thursday that it is launching the discrete Arc GPUs for desktops in the second quarter and for workstations by the third quarter.

The first-generation GPUs by Intel are codenamed ‘Alchemist' that will initially be available in notebooks starting this quarter. The second-generation is in development as ‘Battlemage'.

Intel also announced that it has started the architecture work even for the third-generation of its Arc GPUs that is codenamed ‘Calestial' and is aimed to address the “ultra-enthusiast” segment. The plan here seems to take on top-end graphics cards such as AMD's Radeon RX 6900 XT and Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3090 Ti.

Additionally, the chipmaker showcased during the virtual meeting that its 2023 processor platform Meteor Lake, which will be the 14th-generation lineup in the series, will use a separate graphic tile that will be based on the Arc GPU technology. This will most likely be the Battlemage architecture that is still under development.

Overall, Intel is aiming to ship more than four million discrete GPUs in 2022. The company has AMD's former Radeon graphics chief Raja Koduri and other several industry names on board to support its plans towards developing new graphics technologies.

Last month, Intel Executive Vice President and General Manager of Client Computing Group Gregory Bryant told Gadgets 360 that the company was planning to bring many of its Deep Link features to all Arc users. The Deep Link technology is meant to provide better collaboration between CPUs and GPUs.

Alongside bolstering its discrete GPU category, Intel seems to compete against Nvidia's gaming-focussed GeForce Now with Project Endgame. The company claimed that its offering would enable users to access Intel Arc GPUs through a service for an always-accessible, low-latency computing experience.

Intel's Project Endgame is committed to be available to users in the later part of the year. However, exact details on how the service will be provided to users and at which prices are yet to be announced.