Intel has launched its first processor based on its 18A process. Intel said on Tuesday it unveiled the Core Ultra Series 3 processor, its first AI PC platform based on 18A process technology, at CES 2026. The processor was designed and manufactured in the United States and is expected to be included in more than 200 product designs by major global partners.

The Core Ultra Series 3 mobile lineup includes the Core Ultra X9 and X7 processors. The two processors feature integrated Arc graphics. They are designed for multitasking that handles advanced workloads at the same time, including gaming, content creation and productivity. The top-end product offers 16 CPU cores, 12 Xe cores and 50 NPU TOPS.

It also highlighted performance improvements. The company said multithread performance improved by up to 60 percent and gaming performance improved by more than 77 percent. Battery life was designed with a target of up to 27 hours. The Core Ultra Series 3 family also includes Core processors designed to power mainstream laptops. They use the same base architecture as Core Ultra Series 3.

The Series 3 edge processor, along with the PC version, obtained embedded and industrial certifications for the first time. The company said it meets industrial-site requirements, including an expanded operating temperature range, performance and reliability that enables 24-hour operation.

Large language model (LLM) performance improved by up to 1.9 times. Performance per watt-dollar in end-to-end video analysis improved by up to 2.3 times. Vision-language-action (VLA) model throughput improved by up to 4.5 times. Through integrated AI acceleration, it provides total cost of ownership (TCO) as a single system-on-chip (SoC) solution compared with a multi-chip CPU-GPU architecture.

The first consumer laptops featuring the Core Ultra Series 3 processor can be pre-ordered from Tuesday. The products will go on sale in global markets from Jan. 27. Additional products will be unveiled sequentially during the first half of 2026. Edge systems based on Core Ultra Series 3 will be released from the second quarter of 2026.

Jim Johnson, executive vice president and general manager of Intel's Client Computing Group, said, "With this Intel Core Ultra Series 3, we further strengthen power efficiency and CPU performance, and deliver best-in-class GPUs and improved AI computing performance." He added, "We also strengthened trusted application compatibility on the x86 architecture."