Intel Shutters Its NUC Business, Will Let OEMs Take Over Moving Forward
Intel Shutters Its NUC Business, Will Let OEMs Take Over Moving Forward
In case you missed it – yes, Intel does make PCs for quite some time by now. The Next Unit of Computing (NUC) is the company’s vision where PC can be crammed into much smaller sizes as power and space efficiency increases over time; and over the years we’ve seen various products ranging from palm-sized to the recent more shoebox-sized models (which fits a full-size GPU).
However, as Team Blue is recently cleaning house on some underperforming divisions, which includes its Optane SSD division (sold to SK Hynix), and more recently its dedicated servers business was sold off to MiTAC (parent company of server OEM, Tyan). Now though, the NUC is heading to the chopping block – but that doesn’t mean the tiny PC is dead. Instead, Intel will hand it off to various OEMs who already have mini-PC form factors available for sale, including ASUS, ASRock, ZOTAC, and others.
This was confirmed by ServeTheHome through an internal email sent to partners:
“Intel has decided to stop direct investment in the Next Unit of Compute (NUC) product line…”
In another statement, Intel clarified: “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.”
Pokdepinion: Given that a healthy mini-PC market has been established, it’s logical for Intel to take a step back and refocus its resources back on chip design to supply these mini-PCs in the future.
