Tom Peterson confirmed in a podcast that the hardware aspect for the upcoming Intel Xe3-based Celestial GPUs is already completed. This once again confirms that Intel hasn't canceled the next-gen Xe graphics.
Intel Xe3 is 'baked' already and now the rest of the work remains for the software teams, with the hardware team now focused on Druid "Xe4"
So, not only has it confirmed that it is continuing its original plans to release the next-gen Xe3 architecture graphics, but surprisingly, the hardware side has already matured. There were a lot of rumors previously that stated that Intel would supposedly cancel the plans for Xe3 Celestial GPUs if they don't see success with the Battlemage. The latest reports have debunked this already and now, with Tom confirming the news, the Celestial release is imminent.
In a long 1-hour plus podcast on The Full Nerd Podcast, Intel's fellow Tom Petersen has shared some info on the next-gen Xe3 graphics architecture. Even though he didn't reveal much about it, he did confirm that not only the GPU architecture exists, but it is already developed, at least on the hardware side.
Our architects are way ahead of us and they are already working on not the next thing but the next thing after the next thing.
The way I would like to comment is our IP that's kind of called Xe3, which is the one after Xe3, that's pretty much baked, right. And so the software teams have a lot of work to do on Xe3. The hardware teams are off on the next thing, right. That's our cadence, that we need to keep going.
This indicates that Intel has already moved past the Xe3 architecture and has supposedly started on another project. We didn't get to know what the next venture is for Intel's hardware team and whether it is related to the graphics architecture or not. However, we already know from the existing roadmap that Intel is on track for its Xe3 graphics architecture that will power the Celestial GPUs.
At least for now, we know that the Celestial GPUs will be used on the Panther Lake mobile CPUs, which are scheduled for the next year and will succeed Intel Lunar Lake CPUs. Intel Lunar Lake was a successful niche experiment that brought 50% higher performance than its predecessor, the Meteor Lake when it came to graphics performance. The Intel Panther Lake is supposedly bring even higher graphics performance and will increase the Xe core count from 8 to 12.
As far as the discrete GPUs go, we don't have enough reports to confirm that Intel is going to bring the Xe3 architecture to the desktop, but it's highly likely that it is going to be the case since Intel's original roadmap has revealed that the Celestial GPUs will touch the "Ultra Enthusiast" performance mark.
News Source: The Full Nerd Podcast
About the author: Sarfraz Khan is a hardware reporter with a focus on PC components and the builder community. With years of experience writing about PC hardware and laptops, his work has been featured on several reputable technology publications. Sarfraz's hands-on experience is demonstrated through his first-person accounts of using and comparing different hardware configurations, providing practical and relatable insights for everyday users. His technical analysis is respected by peers in the enthusiast community and has been cited by specialized hardware sites such as Germany's Igor's Lab.
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