Intel describes the release schedule for the long-awaited Arc GPUs

Intel has provided more details on the release chart for its long-awaited Discrete Arc GPUs In a new blog post. The company plans to use a stuttering approach that prioritizes system builders and OEMs in China when it comes to its desktop graphics cards. In the meantime its Laptop chips Are currently exclusively for Samsung laptops In South KoreaBut there is hope that it will soon expand to other manufacturers and markets.

Intel has teamed up with other laptop manufacturers such as Lenovo, Acer, HP and Asus to get their laptops’ entry-level Arc 3 GPUs released “soon”. Laptops with the more powerful Arc 5 and Arc 7 GPUs are scheduled for “early summer.” The company says it hopes the availability at this point will be “broad”, but blamed software development and distribution chain issues for the delay.

On the desktop side of things, Intel is sticking with Q2 as its approximate launch window. Its first desktop GPUs were its entry level A3, which was initially said to be available for Chinese system builders and OEMs (so it would not be available as an off-the-shelf component for slotting on a self-configured machine) and for self-builders before expanding. “Later this summer,” Intel plans to release its most powerful Arc A5 and A7 desktop cards, starting with professional system developers again before expanding.

This is a much more detailed road map than the company Announced again in February Simply put, GPUs came to notebooks in Q1, desktops in Q2, and desktop machines in Q3. But Intel cites two reasons for this stumble. First, by starting with system builders, a home builder can focus on working with a select number of components of whatever their GPUs throw away. Second, there is a “strong demand” for these types of entry-level GPUs in the Chinese market, and it is physically close to factories that make components for boards at a time when transportation costs are high.

The reason aside, the consequence is that home PC builders in the US and EU are unlikely to receive Intel’s new desktop graphics cards until at least the end of the summer. As Nvidia is expected to release a new 4000 series of graphics cards later this year, Intel’s emerging GPUs will face some stiff competition from most initially installed players.