At CES 2026, Intel unveiled its Core Ultra Series 3 processors, marking the company’s first AI PC platform built on Intel 18A process technology and designed and manufactured in the United States. Intel said Series 3 is its most broadly adopted AI PC platform to date, powering more than 200 laptop designs from global partners and significantly expanding the availability of AI PCs worldwide.
The Intel Core Ultra Series 3 mobile lineup introduces a new class of Core Ultra X9 and X7 processors, featuring the highest-performing integrated Intel Arc graphics.
These processors are aimed at power users who multitask across gaming, content creation, and productivity workloads on the go.
Top configurations offer up to 16 CPU cores, 12 Xe cores, and up to 50 NPU TOPS, enabling up to 60 percent better multithread performance, up to 77 percent faster gaming performance, and battery life of up to 27 hours.
Alongside the premium X-series chips, Intel also announced mainstream Intel Core processors based on the same Series 3 architecture, enabling more efficient and capable laptops at lower price points.
Beyond PCs, Intel expanded the Series 3 family to include edge processors certified for embedded and industrial use cases, supporting extended temperature ranges, deterministic performance, and continuous 24×7 operation.
Intel highlighted strong gains in edge AI performance, citing up to 1.9 times higher large language model performance, up to 2.3 times better performance per watt per dollar for video analytics, and up to 4.5 times higher throughput on vision language action models.
The company said the integrated system-on-chip approach improves total cost of ownership compared with multi-chip CPU and GPU designs.
Pre-orders for consumer laptops powered by Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors begin January 6, 2026, with global availability starting January 27, 2026. Edge systems based on the new processors are expected to launch in the second quarter of 2026.
BETTER PERFORMANCE
Edge systems powered by Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors, scheduled to be available from the second quarter of 2026, are positioned to deliver significant gains in performance, efficiency, and AI capabilities compared with the previous Lunar Lake platform.
Intel claims up to 60 percent higher multithread CPU performance at similar power levels with the Core Ultra X9 388H, based on Cinebench 2024 Multi Core benchmarks, alongside up to 77 percent better gaming performance measured across 45 titles at 1080p on reference platforms.
The platform is also designed to enable long battery life, with Intel citing up to 27.1 hours of Netflix video streaming on a reference Lenovo IdeaPad system powered by the Core Ultra X9 388H.
Beyond client workloads, Intel highlights strong advantages in edge AI use cases, including faster large language model inference, improved end-to-end video analytics performance, and higher throughput on vision language action models compared with Nvidia Jetson Orin AGX systems.
Intel said actual results will vary depending on configuration and usage, but the Series 3 family aims to deliver a more efficient, integrated system-on-chip solution for demanding edge and AI workloads.
RAJANI BABURAJAN
