Intel claims AI leadership with launch of Core Ultra 200 CPUs without solid AI performance

Intel claims AI leadership with launch of Core Ultra 200 CPUs without solid AI performance

Intel is expanding its Core Ultra 200 series of laptop chips with a mishmash of CPUs. The chips promise to be suitable for a variety of laptops, but are all based on a slightly older architecture. Somewhat ironically for the way Intel is marketing them, they also lack a decent NPU.

“Intel extends its leadership position in AI PCs,” the manufacturer claims during CES in Las Vegas. Then the chip designer does the opposite. For a year, Intel has been aggressively trying to market the AI PC (unfairly) as a new type of device.

No Copilot+

At CES, Intel is dramatically expanding its Core Ultra Series 2 lineup, but choosing to exclusively market processors based with an older architecture, all equipped with a first-generation NPU that falls far short of Microsoft’s minimum requirements for Copilot+ functionality.

AMD also revamped its Ryzen AI series at CES, putting NPUs in all its chips that do meet the minimum requirements. Qualcomm is also launching a new entry-level processor, and it too has plenty of NPU-Tops. So we correct Intel’s claim for a moment, taking into account the truth: “Intel gives up leadership position in AI PCs altogether.”

Note: we are not saying you need a powerful NPU at this time, but Intel is. The company has been actively creating the AI laptophype but is now unable to live up to expectations. Not surprisingly, the company’s stock took a noticeable dip after the announcement.

Arrow Lake

Let’s take a look at what Intel has effectively announced. The manufacturer is expanding its Intel Core Ultra 200 series to include laptops in three categories: U (economical entry-level chips with low TDP), H (slightly more powerful chips for ultrabooks), and HX (powerful laptop chips for rugged workstations).

Only the previously launched Intel Core Ultra 200V processors are built on the very latest Lunar Lake architecture, which integrates on-chip RAM. These newly announced U, H and HX processors are largely (but not all) built around Arrow Lake. Arrow Lake is the direct successor to Meteor Lake, which powered the first generation of Core Ultra CPUs. Arrow Lake is baked at competitor TSMC on its 3 nm process.

200U

Only: not every Arrow Lake chip is really Arrow Lake. The Intel Core Ultra 200U processors the company announced at CES are actually built with Meteor Lake’s Redwood Cove P cores and Crestmont E cores, reworked for the Intel 3-baking process. So these chips Intel does bake itself. They are as follows:

Intel CoreCores (P+E + LPE).ThreadsGHz (P-base / boost)Cache (MB)NPU (Tops)TDP (W)
Ultra 7 265U12 (2+8+2)142,1 / 5,3121115 – 57
Ultra 5 255U12 (2+8+2)142,0 / 5,2121115 – 57
Ultra 5 235U12 (2+8+2)142,0 / 4,9121115 – 57
Ultra 5 225U12 (2+8+2)141,5 / 4,8121115 – 57

Intel thus markets reasonably light processors with a complex combination of P(restation), E(fficiency) and L(ow) P(ower) E(efficiency) cores. With that strategy, Intel can create quite economical chips, although they are less powerful than what competitors AMD and Qualcomm are putting on the market today.

200H

However, Intel is also introducing five more powerful “H” processors. These too fit into slim office laptops, but they have more robust performance courtesy of the larger number of P cores. The following chips are new:

Intel CoreCores (P+E + LPE).ThreadsGHz (P-base / boost)Cache (MB)NPU (Tops)TDP (W)
Ultra 9 285H16 (6+8+2)162,9 / 5,4161128 – 45
Ultra 7 265H16 (6+8+2)162,2 / 5,3161128 – 45
Ultra 7 255H16 (6+8+2)162,0 / 5,1161128 – 45
Ultra 5 235H14 (4+8+2)142,4 / 5,0141128 – 45
Ultra 5 225H14 (4+8+2)141,7 / 4,9141128 – 45

These chips seem very suitable for more mainstream quality office laptops of various kinds. Those looking for a laptop with a new Intel chip and chasing the necessary horsepower will quickly end up with these Core Ultra 200H processors. Do you believe Intel and really want an AI PC with matching local AI capabilities? Then these chips won’t suffice.

200HX

Finally, Intel is launching six powerhouses. These HX processors are derivatives of desktop chips. They are aimed at workstations or gaming PCs, where they will presumably be combined mostly with a GPU. Therefore, the lack of a powerful NPU is completely irrelevant (although these chips have a few more Tops). The CPUs have only P and E cores, without the weak but economical LPE cores.

Intel CoreCores (P+E)ThreadsGHz (P-base / boost)Cache (MB)NPU (Tops)TDP (W)
Ultra 9 285HX24 (8+16)242,8 / 5,5361355 – 160
Ultra 9 275HX24 (8+16)242,7 / 5,4361355 – 160
Ultra 7 265HX20 (8+12)202,6 / 5,3301355 – 160
Ultra 7 255HX20 (8+12)202,4 / 5,2301355 – 160
Ultra 5 245HX14 (6+8)143,1 / 5,1241355 – 160
Ultra 5 235HX14 (6+8)142,9 / 5,1241355 – 160

Challenging competitors

All of Intel’s processors have stiff competition today. Along the economy end of the spectrum are Qualcomm’s chips, along with AMD’s new Ryzen AI 300 series. Those processors have similar or sturdier CPU performance and should not undercut in terms of battery. For those who care about AI (like Intel, for example), can be happy with NPUs that are four or five times more powerful than Intel’s ones.

At the high end of the spectrum, Intel has more margin. The HX processors do not yet face competition from ARM and Qualcomm, although AMD also has interesting alternatives on the market.

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Regardless, this extended launch is not a comeback from Intel. The chips lack self-imposed AI goals, do not outclass the competition, and are even largely baked at TSMC even though Intel itself has large factories.

That said, Intel is still very strong in the market. Its market-leading position combined with its good relationship with manufacturers will ensure that a lot of laptops with these Intel Core Ultra 200 processors will hit the market. Devices with U or H processors can still be expected soon this quarter, workstations with HX chips will have to wait a little longer.