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- Intel unveiled its new Panther Lake Series 3 processors at CES today.
- They are its first large-scale chips made with the new 18A manufacturing process.
- Intel claims next-generation power efficiency and improved AI performance.
Intel officially announced its next generation of processors at its CES 2026 keynote: the Core Ultra Series 3 “Panther Lake”, and Intel says they are set to deliver the highest power efficiency, graphics power, and of course AI performance ever.
As the keynote kicked off CES 2026 in Las Vegas, Intel senior VP Jim Johnson took to the stage to officially launch the Panther Lake processor family – the first built on its new 18A node and boasting about 50% more performance than its Lunar Lake chips, while utilizing greater power efficiency.
Also: CES 2026 live blog: Latest news on TVs, AI, phones, more
They are powerful chips, featuring up to 16 cores, built-in Intel Arc GPU with Xe3 chip architecture and a new NPU up to 50 TOPS, while supporting up to 9GB of LPDDR5 memory and up to 128GB of DDR5 at speeds up to 9600 MT/s.
The new 18A base configuration comes on eight cores: four P-cores and four LP-cores, with the new Xe3 GPU supporting 3.8 times more TOPS than the previous Arrow Lake generation chips.
Panther Lake has brought with it a new line of processors it is calling the Core Ultra X9 and X7, which come with Intel Arc Graphics for advanced workloads, gaming, and content creation. These chips will have 16 CPU cores, 12 XE cores and 50 NPU tops.
Also: HP’s EliteBook X G2i may be the ultraportable business laptop I’ve been waiting for
Intel’s Panther Lake processors have already made their way into the main computer and laptop makers’ slate of products for 2026, including some of the most exciting products seen at CES so far such as the return of the Dell XPS and HP EliteBook G2i, coming at a time of increased scrutiny on chipmaker performance.
Intel’s keynote speech set out to counter any doubts about its confidence, however, with Panther Lake’s power efficiency as a recurring theme, inspired by real-world comparisons.
Johnson noted the company’s “manic” focus on efficiency enables chips to stream 4K video, for example, while drawing one-third the power compared to previous generations, allowing users to measure power not in hours, but in days.
I tested several Lunar Lake laptops last year and saw some seriously impressive power efficiency for the first time. Looking at the 2026 lineup, we’re already seeing impressive numbers, including battery life of 40 hours and more. Like anything, we’ll have to get hands-on to see the demonstration in person, but 2026 is shaping up to be some exciting developments.
