Intel Just Pulled Ahead in This Key Market
Chip giant Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) has faced multiple challenges in its PC CPU business over the past year. For starters, the rebound in PC demand following the post-pandemic crash has been a disappointment. Global PC shipments edged up just 1% in 2024, according to IDC.While overall demand for PCs is mostly out of Intel's control, the company has made some mistakes as well. First, Intel's last generation Raptor Lake CPUs suffered from well-documented stability issues, forcing the company to extend warranties as it defended its reputation. Second, the desktop version of Arrow Lake, which succeeded Raptor Lake, struggled with gaming performance and received mixed reviews. Rival AMD has pointed to the disappointing Arrow Lake launch as one driver behind strong demand for its own CPUs.The story has been brighter in the laptop CPU market. Lunar Lake, Intel's one-off family of low-power laptop CPUs with built-in memory, delivered exceptional battery life just as Qualcomm was entering the market with its Arm-based chips. Lunar Lake won't win any awards for raw performance, but it's well suited for ultra-thin laptops with all-day battery life.Continue reading
Chip giant Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) has faced multiple challenges in its PC CPU business over the past year. For starters, the rebound in PC demand following the post-pandemic crash has been a disappointment. Global PC shipments edged up just 1% in 2024, according to IDC.
While overall demand for PCs is mostly out of Intel's control, the company has made some mistakes as well. First, Intel's last generation Raptor Lake CPUs suffered from well-documented stability issues, forcing the company to extend warranties as it defended its reputation. Second, the desktop version of Arrow Lake, which succeeded Raptor Lake, struggled with gaming performance and received mixed reviews. Rival AMD has pointed to the disappointing Arrow Lake launch as one driver behind strong demand for its own CPUs.
The story has been brighter in the laptop CPU market. Lunar Lake, Intel's one-off family of low-power laptop CPUs with built-in memory, delivered exceptional battery life just as Qualcomm was entering the market with its Arm-based chips. Lunar Lake won't win any awards for raw performance, but it's well suited for ultra-thin laptops with all-day battery life.
