Intel today announced that it is discontinuing further development of its small form factor Next Unit of Compute (NUC) PCs. As the tech giants focus on more profitable chip businesses, they hope their partners will continue to take over and serve the markets NUC systems serve.
“We have decided to stop direct investment in our Next Unit of Computing (NUC) business and shift our strategy to allow our ecosystem partners to continue to innovate and grow their NUC,” Intel said in a statement. It is said that “This decision will not affect Intel’s remaining Client Computing Group (CCG) or Network and Edge Computing (NEX) businesses. We guarantee the fulfillment of all our promises: ongoing support for NUC products currently on the market.”
Intel entered the PC business with an ultra-compact NUC desktop in 2013 after exiting the motherboard market. The company initially targeted only his SOHO market with its NUC barebones and PCs, but eventually expanded to systems aimed at enterprise users who needed things like remote management and proper support, and even gaming consoles. greatly expanded his NUC range to.
Intel’s NUC systems have gained considerable popularity over the years, standing shoulder to shoulder with similar offerings from established PC brands. Small form factors predated NUCs (and will continue to exist), but Intel’s efforts to revitalize the space in NUC designs have been largely successful, and have been in that space over the past few years. We’ve seen a lot of public experiments that were open. It’s been years since Intel.
Nevertheless, maintaining a variety of desktop and laptop platforms has been somewhat (if not distracting) for Intel, whose primary focus is on the semiconductor industry rather than finished devices. It is a burden.
Intel hasn’t given a specific reason in its decision to end development of new NUC PCs, but given the shrinking PC market and the fierce competition there, it’s likely that Intel will be shaken by the same market forces it’s always been. I wouldn’t be surprised if it did. It puts pressure on other PC OEMs. Intel has already reduced its focus on his NUC in recent years and will never offer a performance version of his NUC of 12.th and 13th A generation of NUCs – and we can’t say those machines were missed by viewers. Meanwhile, Intel’s enthusiast-grade Extreme NUCs have evolved to be more like full-fledged desktops than compact systems, further and further away from the NUC’s tiny roots. And while the add-in card form factor used in the NUC Extreme lineup always looks promising, it’s unclear if it’s even been a success for Intel.
After all, Intel’s retirement of the NUC program is not completely unexpected as it continues to cut and close non-core businesses. Instead, the company encourages its OEM/ODM partners, whose core business is to design and sell complete systems, to continue manufacturing and innovating compact his machines for the small office/home office market, business customers, and gamers. I am urging you. The move will allow Intel to refocus on its profitable chip-making business, a priority CEO Pat Gelsinger has made for the past few years.
Intel’s NUC isn’t the first business Intel has sold in recent years. To focus on developing cutting-edge CPUs, GPUs, and other profitable products, Intel exited the NAND memory and SSD business, discontinued Optane SSDs, stopped developing notebook models, and sold its prebuilt server business to MiTAC.
