Intel's current generation of desktop processors is in trouble, competing with the company's previous generations and AMD solutions.
At the end of the summer of 2024, however, everything seemed to be looking up for Intel, which had adopted the main advances of its Meteor Lake architecture for mobile processors, in order to produce more energy-efficient desktop chips. Power consumption and heat were the main criticisms levelled at the three previous generations of Intel desktop chips - Alder Lake, Raptor Lake and Raptor Lake Refresh. These three generations saved the day in the face of the increasing power of AMD processors, but at the price of unbearable heat, at a time when power consumption was peaking - at least on the most powerful chips, the technological showcases.
The first salvo in the Intel Core Ultra 200 range © Intel
Alas, in autumn 2024, with the release of this new generation dubbed Arrow Lake, Intel was unable to counter AMD's Zen 5 processors. Real progress was made in terms of warm-up time and power consumption, but performance was sometimes severely lacking, as in video games for example. In applications, Intel's Core Ultra 200s certainly held their own against the three previous generations, but they were irretrievably outstripped by AMD's Ryzen Zen 5s.
Intel had half-heartedly acknowledged a problem as early as the end of last year, but only talked about improving BIOS and drivers to " exploit the full potential " of Core Ultra 200 processors. No one in charge dared to state clearly that the brand's objectives were not being met and that AMD was continuing to gain ground... even though all the analysts were pointing to this progression. But that was before. Before the conference call organized as part of the Deustche Bank 2025 Technology Conference.
David Zisner, Intel's Chief Financial Officer © Intel
Here, David Zinsner, Intel's Chief Financial Officer, used harsher words: " As you know, we've missed the boat a little in the desktop market, especially in high-performance computers. If we compare our market share in dollars with our unit market share, our performance is not as good, and it's mainly due to our high-end desktop activity that our offering has not been satisfactory this year. Nova Lake, our next product, offers a more complete range of references. It is aimed at the high-end desktop market. We therefore hope to improve our position next year. Overall, I'm quite satisfied with the customer. His execution isn't perfect, but it's pretty good.
It's unusual for a senior manager to use the words " missed the mark ", but it's also clear that David Zinsner is quick to mea culpa: it's not a question of Intel being portrayed in a bad light, and we're speeding towards the future and a more promising solution. In fact, despite repeated difficulties in recent months, Intel has no intention of giving up, and as early as next year, the brand is set to launch Nova Lake, a new generation of desktop processors, once again very promising... on paper.
