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STH ServeTheHome Advertisement [INS::INS] STH STH * Forums * AI * Server + Server Systems + Server CPUs + Accelerators + Server Motherboards + Server Chassis + Other Components * 5G Edge * Storage * Networking * Workstation + Workstation Processors + Workstation Motherboards * Software + Operating Systems + Server Applications + Virtualization * Guides + Buyer's Guides + Tips + Top Hardware Components for TrueNAS / FreeNAS NAS Servers + Top Hardware Components for pfSense Appliances + Top Hardware Components for napp-it and Solarish NAS Servers + Top Picks for Windows Server 2016 Essentials Hardware + The DIY WordPress Hosting Server Hardware Guide [ ][Search] Home Workstation Intel Exiting the PC Business as it Stops Investment in the Intel... * Workstation Intel Exiting the PC Business as it Stops Investment in the Intel NUC By Patrick Kennedy - July 11, 2023 15 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Linkedin Email Print Intel NUC 11 Pro CoverIntel NUC 11 Pro Cover Some huge news today. Intel has started to notify its ecosystem saying that it will stop direct investment in the Next Unit of Compute (NUC) business. For the handful of STH readers who are unaware, Intel not only makes chips but they also make systems. Earlier this year, we covered that Intel was exiting the server business and selling it to MiTAC. Now its line of PCs is being sunset as well. Intel Exiting the PC Business as It Stops Investment in the Intel NUC Intel NUCs are awesome. These mini PCs have really defined a space serving as everything from desktops to portable VMware/ Ubuntu/ and other enterprise software cluster nodes, to even being the backbone of Enterprise Restaurant Compute with Kubernetes at Chick-fil-A. The small size, and to be very frank, Intel's support of the platform has made them very popular. There is a gap between the support experience with an Intel NUC and many of the mini PC vendors that exist today. Intel NUC 12 Pro Wall St Canyon NUC12WSKi7 FrontIntel NUC 12 Pro Wall St Canyon NUC12WSKi7 Front Over the years, the Intel NUC line has expanded to much larger form factors, even encompassing Intel Xeon CPUs in chassis large enough to have GPUs as well. If anything the NUC line has grown over the years from small boxes to all kinds of form factors. Intel NUC9VXQNX Quartz Canyon Xeon Processor Module Out Of Chassis Intel NUC9VXQNX Quartz Canyon Xeon Processor Module Out Of Chassis That has led to a strange market dynamic. As it was doing in the server business, Intel was in a position to compete with its major OEM customers. That brings us to the key question: does Intel add value by competing on motherboard and chassis design, rather than chip design? For the past few years as the mini PC space has flourished perhaps the answer has been no. Intel NUC11TNKi5 Lenovo M90n Nano HP EliteDesk 800 1Intel NUC11TNKi5 Lenovo M90n Nano HP EliteDesk 800 1 We had an initial heads-up, then heard from a second source this morning that Intel sent a note to its partners today saying: "Intel has decided to stop direct investment in the Next Unit of Compute (NUC) product line..." (Source: Intel e-mail to partners) Instead, it is going to rely on industry partners to continue innovating in the NUC ecosystem. Companies like ASRock are already making their own NUC-size motherboards. Its e-mail to partners also said it expects to enable its partners on growing the NUC ecosystem. Final Words We have done many NUC reviews since they make such great edge compute platforms. They are great, albeit the newer ones feel too small as thermal requirements increase and fans get louder. Despite the fact that I personally think they are great systems, this is one that has always made little sense to me. We have a series of 1L PCs from Lenovo, HP, and Dell called "Project TinyMiniMicro". Those systems have the support of large OEMs that can do on-site service. It has just felt like Intel competing with OEMs on sheet metal, PCB, and so forth was not the winning solution, but I had resigned myself to being wrong on this front until today. Intel NUC 11 Element Rear 3Intel NUC 11 Element Rear 3 Farewell to the amazing line of Intel NUCs! As Intel focuses on streamlining its business, it seems like those parts of the organization that are not core to making and selling chips are being slowly sunset or sold off. With the Intel Data Center Solutions Group's sale to MiTAC earlier this year, the company signaled it was changing its position with regard to competing with OEM customers. Now using a similar logic, it seems as though the NUCs are following that path. We have reached out to Intel on this one for official confirmation, but the e-mail is out to partners and looks very clear. We will update this piece with Intel's official statement when it arrives. Update 70 minutes after this piece went live. Intel just sent us the official confirmation: We have decided to stop direct investment in the Next Unit of Compute (NUC) Business and pivot our strategy to enable our ecosystem partners to continue NUC innovation and growth. This decision will not impact the remainder of Intel's Client Computing Group (CCG) or Network and Edge Computing (NEX) businesses. Furthermore, we are working with our partners and customers to ensure a smooth transition and fulfillment of all our current commitments - including ongoing support for NUC products currently in market. (Source: Intel) [INS::INS] * TAGS * Intel * NUC Previous articleThree New AMD EPYC Genoa-X SKUs with up to 48MB L3 cache per Core or 1.1GB Total Patrick Kennedy https://www.servethehome.com Patrick has been running STH since 2009 and covers a wide variety of SME, SMB, and SOHO IT topics. Patrick is a consultant in the technology industry and has worked with numerous large hardware and storage vendors in the Silicon Valley. The goal of STH is simply to help users find some information about server, storage and networking, building blocks. If you have any helpful information please feel free to post on the forums. RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR Silicom P4CG2BPi81 100GbE Bypass NIC Front Networking Silicom P4CG2BPi81 Dual-Port 100GbE Intel E810 Bypass Adapter Review Perfect 1L Project TinyMiniMicro Cover Tips Perfect Project TinyMiniMicro Pushing a 1L PC as a Server Concept Lenovo ThinkEdge SE360 V2 Cover 5G Edge Lenovo ThinkEdge SE350 V2 SE360 V2 and SR675 V3 Launched for AI 15 COMMENTS 1. d3Rp July 11, 2023 At 5:46 am Really sad to hear this, but not surprising given their poor quarterly earnings the past few quarters. All in the name of infinite growth that we lose another product we held as a standard for the sake of profitability! 2. Enriquo Polazo July 11, 2023 At 6:20 am Are they going to discount the NUCs like they did the leftover Optane? 3. X July 11, 2023 At 6:37 am Does this mean even the support for current gen 12/13 models (like bios etc) will be pretty cut down? 4. GG July 11, 2023 At 7:03 am Looking forward to watching firesale prices in the US whilst europe gets the run out devices at RRP+30% :_) 5. Federico July 11, 2023 At 8:25 am This cost-cutting MDA-driven trends the tech industry is experiencing will only cause harm of us all. 6. Eric Olson July 11, 2023 At 9:22 am The reason Clayton Christensen's disruptive innovation keeps causing trouble for large companies is precisely the kind of cost cutting that retains divisions currently making the most profit while cutting the less profitable divisions that will arguably make more profit in the future. 7. Arn_Thor July 11, 2023 At 9:47 am Very sad. Was pleased to see they had reduced the fan whine in the latest series and was looking forward to upgrading to one down the line. 8. ZappyPappyz July 11, 2023 At 11:07 am So Intel exits another OEM business to let some 3rd party OEMs pick that market segment up instead. So Minisforum and BeeLink/ Others already have Intel based Mini Desktop PCs and now I'm curious if Intel will let any of its OEM Partners continue to use the NUC Branding? And maybe Intel can license to its OEM Partners some of that more Interesting IP that Intel developed for its NUC "Canyon" lines of Mini Desktop PCs? 9. T. Roll Price July 11, 2023 At 11:15 am Is this real? What are your sources? It just says an e-mail from partners and Intel. 10. Dave July 11, 2023 At 11:48 am An official email from INTEL is not source enough? 11. George July 11, 2023 At 11:51 am @T. Roll Price: It's official... Intel has been unloading business unit for the past several quarters and years... They stop SSD, Omnipath, Optane, Server, and NUC... 12. Patrick Kennedy July 11, 2023 At 12:07 pm The original e-mails to partners were from Intel representatives. I got direct official channel confirmation from Intel's HQ and posted that about 70 minutes later (it was early Pacific time so folks had to wake up.) 13. TS July 11, 2023 At 12:11 pm Well, Intel basically lost the consumer side chip war due to lying about TDP. Nobody wants a 55W PL1 TDP laptop chip that PL2 to 155W burning your ball sacks. and the weak E cores that is literally half the speed of the P cores. Stopping NUC for a couple of years is right. Waiting for 18A process, AMX enabled 15W "U class" with the Integrated GPU able to do OpenCL on the entire memory space of the chip(192GB+) so that an 192GB AI model can run on it like the M2 Ultra 192GB. 14. Mario Rodrigues July 11, 2023 At 12:36 pm I own and regularly use an Intel i3-8121U powered NUC that also has Radeon RX540 (2 GB GDDR5) graphics since the 10nm Intel chip shipped with disabled graphics. One of the primary reasons I bought it was the 'guaranteed' OEM support from Intel - firmware, drivers, and BIOS updates were all updated over the years. Lesser OEMs would not provide that level of service. My NUC was launched in the third quarter of 2018 and security support just ended in February this year so just over 4 years of overall product support. This system also supports Intel Optane memory, so I have a 32 GB stick installed in the NVMe slot which accelerates a 1 TB Crucial BX500 SSD that's installed in the SATA compartment. This machine is great for Internet and Office application use and will also play some lightweight games. The best support feature I liked about the NUC was the one click all-support-button that checked for product updates and then installed them. It was almost as good as a Chromebook update. I for one will miss the NUC series of units. Would this be an opportunity for AMD to launch its own NUC series? I for one would buy such a unit as long as the OEM support mirrored what Intel provided. 15. Yamamoto July 11, 2023 At 3:30 pm IMO the skull themed appearance of high-end NUC keeps some customers away LEAVE A REPLY [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] Please enter your comment! [ ] Please enter your name here [ ] You have entered an incorrect email address! Please enter your email address here [ ] [ ]Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. [ ] [ ]Sign me up for the STH newsletter! [Post Comment] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] D[ ] This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. [INS::INS] [INS::INS] Newsletter Get the best of STH delivered weekly to your inbox. We are going to curate a selection of the best posts from STH each week and deliver them directly to you. 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