
Opinion
No Intel, this isn’t an NUC anymore
by Kevin Hofer
Intel has announced in a statement that investments in the Next Unit of Computing (NUC) business will be discontinued. In future, the company intends to support its partners in the development of their mini PCs in an advisory capacity.
After a loss-making first quarter, Intel is discontinuing its NUC division. A loss of 2.8 billion US dollars and a 36 per cent drop in sales compared to the same quarter last year are likely to be partly to blame. The company is thus following its own trend. It has already given up other business areas in the past. For example, those of its own servers, NAND and Optane memory and the development of its own 5G modems.
Intel is leaving the NUC field to other manufacturers. Nevertheless, the chip giant would like to support interested partners in the development of NUC products in the future. It is a shame that the small square mini-computers are disappearing due to cost-cutting measures despite their popularity. But perhaps this is for the best, as Intel's last NUC foray was with the NUC 13 Extreme. A potent thing in itself, but in the test by colleague Kevin, it caused mixed feelings, and not just because of the price.
The NUC task is not expected to have any impact on Intel's other divisions.
Cover photo: Kevin Hofer, Intel NUC 12 ExtremeI find my muse in everything. When I don’t, I draw inspiration from daydreaming. After all, if you dream, you don’t sleep through life.