Intel has quietly expanded its processor lineup with the introduction of Wildcat Lake, a third-generation Core processor family that arrived alongside the company’s CES 2026 announcements.

A custom-designed version of its new CPUs could make Intel-based gaming handhelds a better option this time around.

Intel’s Core Ultra Series 3 “Panther Lake” debuts at CES 2026 on Intel 18A, boosting AI PC performance, graphics & battery life.

Intel's new Core Ultra Series 3 'Panther Lake' CPUs are the first AI PC processors built on the new Intel 18A process, and made in the USA.

Here are all the details on the Intel Core Ultra Series 3 that you’ll find in practically every laptop this year.

RedGamingtech describes Serpent Lake as an "APU monster" similar in remit to AMD's Strix Halo chip. It's said to sport Nvidia's next-gen Rubin GPU technology built on TSMC N3P silicon, while CPU tech from Intel's upcoming Titan Lake generation, more on which in a moment. Oh, and it's all supported by LPDDR6 memory.

Single-thread performance narrows the gap far further. Intel’s processor scores about 4,926, slightly ahead of the Ryzen 9 7950X at roughly 4,876, which matters for everyday desktop workloads that don’t scale cleanly across dozens of threads.

The balance of power in high-performance computing is tilting toward tightly fused CPU-GPU designs, and two old rivals are suddenly aligned around that future. Intel and Nvidia are now chasing a mega chip that marries general-purpose compute with accelerated AI,