Intel takes a step back on Arc GPUs, and Intel's next-generation Arc Battlemage Xe2 and Celestial Xe3 GPUs may be delayed or even canceled, according to the latest news posted on Weibo by the "Golden Pig Upgrade Package". The Golden Pig Upgrade Pack is a very reliable leaker and insider who is extremely accurate when it comes to leaks of Intel and AMD mobile devices. In his latest series of posts, he talks about Intel's plans for the next generation of Arc GPU series, which will include Battlemage and Celestial.
Intel's Arc Battlemage "Xe2" graphics processor will be an important part of the next-generation Lunar Lake "Core Ultra 200V" CPU, which is expected to be unveiled later this year, with rollouts scheduled to begin in the first half of 2024. We've seen leaks of these chips, which perform much faster than the Alchemist and Alchemist+ chips, suggesting the use of an upgraded graphics architecture. This is still the Xe2-LPG or mobile version of the architecture, while the high-end discrete GPU variant known as the Xe2-HPG is said to be delayed.
The second chip to be mentioned is DG3 or Xe3, which is the codename for Intel's Arc Celestial graphics architecture. The architecture is expected to debut as an Xe3-LPG iGPU in Intel's Panther Lake CPU series, but it looks like the post hints at no Xe3 next year. Intel has confirmed that Panther Lake will be available in the second half of 2025 and will use Intel's 18A, Intel 3, and external (TSMC) process nodes.
It's unclear whether this rumor is implying a discrete GPU family, an integrated GPU family, or both. The development of discrete graphics processors is likely to take a step back, as the company is putting more effort into integrating graphics processors. There have already been reports that Intel's Arc Battlemage "Xe2" Arc graphics card is expected to be unveiled in late 2024, and the GPU has already appeared in multiple patches, indicating that work is currently underway.
As a result, it would be a big disappointment for many users and the technology community if Intel suddenly decided to postpone or even cancel these chips, which Intel has previously done very well in fine-tuning the performance of its Arc products through ongoing driver updates, including optimizations, fixes, and Day 0/1 support for many new games.