Zinsner warned of a further contraction in the PC market, describing a sustained decline in the size of the market over the next year, at least. "We expect the 2026 PC unit [Total Addressable Market] to decline approximately 12%, with second half units down more than 20%. We do not expect a sustained recovery until memory availability improves and pricing begins to normalize," Zinsner said. "For 2027, we're planning a PC unit TAM to decline roughly 10%."
Taking the comments together, Intel is saying that it expects the market itself to shrink significantly over the next year due to memory prices. It's not a situation of demand outstripping supply, at least not directly like the case of a component shortage. Rather, it's a pullback from direct customers, OEMs, and IT departments from spending, which is more significant.
Although Intel says the client PC market is shrinking, the company says that its long-term outlook remains positive. "We think next year, and in future years, we're a market-share-gain type of environment… we do think the PC is going to through a renaissance despite [memory shortage]," said Zinsner.
Despite the optimism, Zinsner said that Intel is taking some of its client capacity offline to build more data center products. In response to a question about reallocating wafers from client products, here's what the executive said: "Answer: Yes… What we're taking offline to put Intel 3 into Oregon is 18A wafers, which were generally going to build Panther Lake products, so we see the opportunity with some of that capacity freed up to go produce more data center wafers."
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Jake Roach Social Links Navigation Senior Analyst, CPUs Jake Roach is the Senior CPU Analyst at Tom’s Hardware, writing reviews, news, and features about the latest consumer and workstation processors.
usertests I had to look it up. 18A-P is the one with backside power delivery. https://semiwiki.com/semiconductor-manufacturers/intel/370512-intel-18a-vs-intel-18a-p-what-is-the-difference-and-why-does-it-matter/ Intel 18A-P also introduces additional transistor options, including enhanced RibbonFET variants sometimes referred to as “Power Boost” devices. These allow designers to optimize different sections of a chip for maximum speed, lower leakage, or improved efficiency. The process also includes interconnect enhancements that reduce resistance, helping signals travel more efficiently through the chip. Another significant improvement is thermal performance. Intel has indicated that 18A-P reduces thermal resistance by approximately 20% to 40% compared with 18A. Better thermal behavior means heat can be removed more effectively from the silicon, allowing chips to sustain higher performance levels without exceeding thermal limits. Maybe we can see aggressive turbo and base clocks with this node due to those improvements. Reply
TerryLaze usertests said: I had to look it up. 18A-P is the one with backside power delivery. https://semiwiki.com/semiconductor-manufacturers/intel/370512-intel-18a-vs-intel-18a-p-what-is-the-difference-and-why-does-it-matter/ Maybe we can see aggressive turbo and base clocks with this node due to those improvements. Turbo and base have always been aggressive, what we can hope for with this is that temps and full power draw will be much lower, even with reviewers turning everything to 11 and claiming it being default. Reply
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/intel-confirms-nova-lake-will-use-advanced-18a-p-node-more-details-at-ces-company-says-its-taking-panther-lake-capacity-offline-to-build-more-granite-rapids-data-center-cpus#main
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