"The 18A Intel Core Ultra Series 3 (Panther Lake) demonstrates where semiconductor manufacturing technology leadership lies, proving its technological leadership in the consumer mobile CPU market, including mobile gaming, content creation, and AI computing."

On the 28th, Intel held the '2026 Intel AI PC Showcase Press Conference' at the Westin Seoul Parnas in Samseong-dong, Seoul, and revealed its technology strategy and new product vision targeting the next-generation PC market.

Josh Newman, general manager of Intel's Consumer PC division, who made the announcement that day, emphasized the competitiveness of the new AI PC platform based on Intel's 18A process, saying, "2026 is a strategic turning point for both the PC industry and Intel."

Vice President Newman explained that Intel has fundamentally improved its process technology and manufacturing capabilities through large-scale R&D and facility investments over the past five years.

At the heart of it all is Intel's latest process, 18A.

The 18A process features a combination of RibbonFET gate-all-around structure and PowerVia rear-side power supply technology.

This simultaneously improves power efficiency and performance, increasing performance per watt by up to 15% and chip density by up to 30%.

The 'Intel Core Ultra Series 3 (codenamed Panther Lake)' released on this day is the first consumer processor to apply this 18A process.


“Series 3 is designed to provide leadership across mobile gaming, content creation, and AI computing,” said Newman.

The CPU features newly designed performance cores and efficiency cores to maintain high performance even at low voltages, and significantly increases processing power through up to eight efficiency cores in multi-threaded tasks.

Graphics performance has also been significantly improved.

Intel introduced a structure that separates the GPU into a separate die, allowing for flexible adjustment of GPU size depending on the product line and purpose.

This provides advanced graphics features, including ray tracing, across a wide range of products, from high-end gaming laptops to slim mobile PCs.

“Taking the mobile gaming experience to the next level is one of our core goals for this generation,” said Newman.

AI computational performance is also a notable change.>
Series 3 features a significantly enhanced NPU that handles low-power AI operations, significantly improving generative AI processing and real-time inference performance in local environments.

This reduces dependence on the cloud and enables fast and stable processing in edge AI environments.

Intel expects that this will enable various AI-based tasks, such as content creation, real-time translation, and image/video editing, to be performed smoothly on a PC.

Vice President Newman also emphasized the importance of the Korean market.

He explained why Seoul was selected as one of five cities around the world to operate Intel AI PC experiential pop-up stores, saying, “Korea is a key market leading the global spread of AI PCs.”

Intel's strategy is to accelerate the spread of AI PCs through collaboration with domestic PC manufacturers, operating system partners, and component ecosystems.


Bae Tae-won, President of Intel Korea, who delivered the opening remarks at today's event, said, "The Series 3 product announced today is not just a new product launch; it is a result that proves where the leadership in semiconductor manufacturing technology lies worldwide."

He also said, “This year, we plan to visit Korean consumers with a rich lineup together with our partners,” and “This year, we will provide a wide range of choices to domestic consumers through a powerful and diverse AI PC lineup encompassing the Intel Core Ultra Series 2 and Series 3.”