Intel is still committed to evolving its Xe graphics architecture, though it's only talking about AI data centers right now

With Core Ultra 300-series processors (ie Panther Lake) showing that Intel's engineers are on top form right now, it's only natural that some PC enthusiasts are now looking ahead to what might come next, especially in the world of GPUs. At a recent conference, Team Blue provided some hints as to where its graphics chips will be heading, but with the focus being entirely on AI, it might look like the gaming market is being totally ignored.

Intel shared on X a brief video of Anil Nanduri, vice president of its data centre AI accelerators division, explaining the roadmap for Xe GPUs (via Overclock3D), though it's not overly stuffed with content. For example, the forthcoming X3P-powered Crescent Island GPU was announced last October, and the same architecture is expected to make an appearance in desktop Nova Lake processors later this year.

What's coming after that? "Xe Next" in "next-gen inference-optimized GPU & Shores product line."

Given the vast amounts of money still being thrown at AI, it's obvious that Intel will still develop its GPU architecture, with a natural focus on that sector, and while it's also safe to assume that the developments will cascade into other fields, it doesn't automatically mean we're going to see a new round of Arc graphics cards (i.e. the much hoped-for Celestial series).

Some variant of Xe Next will almost certainly appear in the form of an iGPU in a future desktop and mobile CPU, but sales of those products are almost guaranteed. It's a different matter when it comes to graphics cards, though, because Intel only has a minuscule share of the discrete GPU market.

The Arc B580 (and its cut-down cousin, the B570) is a really solid card, though it's no longer competitive on price. You're looking at spending $300 at Amazon for an Acer model, which is the same as a GeForce RTX 5060 ($299 at Walmart). While it does have 50% more VRAM than Nvidia's second-lowest tier Blackwell card, it doesn't perform as well.

And that's the best graphics card Intel currently offers PC gamers, so it's not surprising that it has not managed to pull more shoppers away from choosing AMD or Nvidia. With AI currently being a pot of infinite gold, and PC gaming being a scruffy old purse with a few coins rattling around inside, there's very little incentive for Intel to make a concerted push at bringing Xe Next to the consumer GPU market.

Nvidia clearly designs its graphics architecture for AI first these days, then iterates it into something for the general public, and it looks like Intel is now doing the same thing. However, GeForce RTX cards can be found at almost every price point, and Team Blue's lack of progress in the gaming GPU market is partly because it has so few offerings. If there were Arc alternatives to the RTX 5060 Ti or the Radeon RX 9070 XT, for example, it might help to get Xe into a wider user base.

Intel worked hard at improving its drivers and overall software package, and XeSS is now generally regarded as being superior to AMD's FSR 3 (especially now that any Arc GPU can do multi-frame generation). Xe Next wouldn't necessarily make its upscaling and frame gen technologies any better, but they don't need to be: We just need more Arc models, with more shaders for greater performance.

I suspect that Intel won't make a move in the discrete graphics card market until things begin to settle in the global memory crisis. Arc GPUs are historically rather large, not least because of all the AI-crunching matrix units they sport, making them quite expensive to make, but that was somewhat offset in the past by using simple, cheap GDDR6 VRAM.

Until video DRAM becomes affordable again, Intel probably won't even consider the notion of a big Xe3P or Xe Next gaming GPU. For AI, though, it'll want to churn them out at every level because it knows it can slap an almighty price tag onto the cards. After all, that's what it's expected to be doing with 'Big Battlemage', but all gamers are getting are thoughts on what could have been.