Good news for PC builders: Intel says it’ll return with a high-end desktop CPU next year, and expects the chip to regain share from AMD.
The high-end desktop CPU will be part of Intel’s upcoming Nova Lake family, and use the company’s new 18A-P manufacturing process. In a Thursday earnings call, CFO David Zinsner noted: “I think the important aspect of Nova Lake is [that] we’ve had a bit of a hole in our portfolio for high-end desktop, and Nova Lake filled in that gap.”
The chip also promises to give PC builders an alternative to AMD’s high-end Ryzen X3D chips, which have helped the company gain share in desktop CPUs to 34.9% in Q2, against Intel’s declining 65.1%, according to Mercury Research.
Intel did launch the flagship Core Ultra 9 285K in late 2024, and the 24-core desktop CPU received a positive review from us for various enhancements, including reduced power consumption. But in gaming, the processor could struggle to match AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X3D and other Ryzen chips. Although more power-efficient, the Core Ultra 9 285K could even lag behind Intel’s older 14th-gen desktop CPUs on gaming workloads.
Hence, the upcoming Nova Lake might offer the cutting-edge gaming performance that PC builders often look for. “We do feel like we go into the year as a market share gainer with our Nova Lake portfolio and, you know, obviously we’ll kind of monitor the market and see how things kind of play out with that,” Zinsner added.
Rumors also say the flagship Nova Lake desktop chip will feature a staggering 52 CPU cores. However, the company plans to share more at CES in Las Vegas in January, suggesting Nova Lake won’t be arriving this year, as Intel’s CEO previously mentioned. In Thursday’s earnings call, the company indicated it’s been struggling with the worsening memory shortage, which caused PC shipments to fall by 20% in Q3.
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The pain is expected to be acute at least for the next two quarters. Intel points to an “inventory correction” during the period, which signals that PC makers and retailers will focus on selling existing products, rather than buying fresh CPUs for new models. The memory shortage also threatens to discourage PC builders from creating new desktops.
“We do not expect a sustained recovery until memory availability improves and pricing begins to normalize. For 2027, we’re planning for the PC unit TAM [total addressable market] to decline roughly 10%,” Intel’s CFO said earlier in the call.
About Our Expert
Michael Kan
Principal Reporter
Experience
I’ve been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I’m currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country’s technology sector.
Since 2020, I’ve covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I’ve combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink’s cellular service.
I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.
I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I’m now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I’m always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.
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