Intel once again denied that it would withdraw from the Arc desktop discrete graphics card market, responding to rumors that it would adjust its graphics business focus and gradually fade away from consumer desktop GPUs. The company emphasized that gaming graphics cards are still "super important" in its PC product portfolio, but in the context of the delay in high-end desktop products, the outside world's doubts about Intel's long-term ability to serve as the "third pole" of desktop graphics cards have not been eliminated.
During a Q&A session at Computex this week, Alex Katouzian, general manager of Intel’s Client Computing Group, was asked about the future plans for Arc desktop graphics cards in an interview with Dutch technology media Tweakers. He said that GPUs are still a key component of Intel's PC business, and specifically pointed out that the PC and mobile gaming business is generating "huge revenue" and Intel hopes to play an important role in this market. Katouzian also said that Intel GPU cores are "performing well" in the market and that more and more game engine developers are working with the company.
Intel officially entered the desktop independent graphics card market with Arc Alchemist in 2022, but the initial launch experience was quite bumpy, and both driver maturity and game compatibility were criticized. The second-generation Battlemage architecture is seen as the key to reversing word-of-mouth, especially the mid-range and entry-level Arc B580, which has helped Intel regain some trust in the budget graphics card market. According to TechSpot's evaluation, the Arc B580, which sells for about US$250, relies on 12GB of video memory. At that time, Nvidia and AMD still generally used 8GB of video memory in low-priced products. The cost-effective advantage was obvious; a series of subsequent driver updates also alleviated Arc's CPU usage overhead problem to a certain extent.
However, the long-awaited high-end Battlemage gaming graphics card has yet to appear. The Arc B770 graphics card, known as the "Big Battlemage" by players, has long been rumored. Earlier reports stated that the card is expected to be released around CES in 2026. However, as of the end of Computex this year, there is still no official news. Sources told Tweakers during Computex last year that the B770 was originally planned to be launched at the end of 2025. Now the media believes that the product has most likely been canceled, but Intel has not officially confirmed it. The generally rising component prices in the industry, especially the storage costs affected by the "memory crisis", are regarded as one of the negative factors hindering the launch of high-end new cards.
While desktop gaming cards are absent, Intel has recently made frequent moves in its professional and mobile graphics product lines. The company has released the Arc Pro B70, a workstation graphics card that is close to the "big core Battlemage" expected by the market. The card is not a consumer-grade B770, but it is equipped with 32 Xe cores, 32GB GDDR6 video memory, 256-bit width and ECC verification. The overall specifications are more like the professional version of the "big core" chip that players originally expected. In contrast, Intel has recently devoted more energy to mobile and integrated graphics, including the Arc G3 chip for handheld devices and the Panther Lake processor platform for thin and light laptops.
Judging from market performance, the Arc ecosystem is still in the early climbing stage. In March this year, Intel Arc graphics finally entered the mainstream GPU list of the Steam Hardware Survey for the first time, but its user share is still only about 0.28%, which is far lower than the long-term shares of NVIDIA and AMD. In the absence of a new generation of desktop high-end graphics cards, especially flagship products such as the B770, although Intel has repeatedly emphasized that Arc is still on the roadmap, it is still difficult for the outside world to judge the company's long-term investment in the desktop independent graphics market, and it is difficult to say whether it really wants to become the "third pole" competing with NVIDIA and AMD.