At Computex, Intel strove to reclaim its silicon superpower status

A couple of years ago, Intel wasn’t the silicon superpower it once was. Giving up dominance to the likes of AMD, Apple, and even Qualcomm in recent years, the major computing company made big changes, laying off thousands of workers and changing its CEO. Under the stewardship of Lip-Bu Tan, Intel’s fortunes appear to have changed.

While Tan’s keynote at Computex 2026 didn’t reveal much in the way of new announcements, it served as a highlight reel of what the company has done recently. Its Panther Lake Core Ultra Series 3 chips have made huge performance gains, perhaps the most this decade, to power a new range of graphically powerful premium laptops.

When Apple launched the $899 MacBook Neo earlier in the year, Windows-based computer brands scrambled to offer something at a similar level of quality at a comparable price. Intel’s answer was its Core Series 3 chips, also known by its ‘Wildcat Lake’ codename. Designed to provide all-day battery life and more power at a lower price point, the general vibe among PC manufacturers was that people would no longer tolerate ‘cheap’ equalling ‘nasty.

According to Tan, since launching the Wildcat Lake system on a chip (SoC) in April, more than 70 different laptop designs have already adopted the technology. This includes Dell’s dramatically cheaper XPS 13 laptop, aggressively chasing a US$699 price point.

Then, there’s also Intel’s big gaming push. With the new Intel Arc G3 handheld gaming SoCs, it hopes to topple what has largely been AMD’s domain thus far.

Of course, AI was a big focus for Intel at Computex 2026

Predictably, much of Intel’s Computex keynote focused on AI, data centres, and the partnerships it’s working on to achieve its AI vision. Much of this is driven by the new Xeon 6+ processors, CPU-heavy chips made for servers to handle agentic AI workloads.

While data centres aren’t that sexy for everyday consumers, Intel went to great lengths to explain how they impact everyday life. They power mobile phone networks, banking servers, and anything associated with digital life.

In the shadows of Nvidia’s RTX Spark announcement, Tan didn’t see it as a threat. Rather, he saw it as an opportunity to lift the standards of PCs for everyone. At a press Q&A session, he also affirmed that he’s not concerned with quarter-by-quarter performance, setting sights on a long-term vision to see Intel reinstated as an engineering company known for its silicon.

Chris attended Computex 2026 in Taipei as a guest of Intel.

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