Intel Targets Handheld Gaming Market With New Platform and Chip
Intel is pushing deeper into gaming hardware with plans for a handheld gaming platform and a dedicated chip. As part of this effort, the company aims to expand beyond traditional PCs and target portable gaming devices. Meanwhile, the move reflects growing interest in handheld gaming across the industry.
The platform will combine hardware and software, Intel vice president and general manager of PC products, Daniel Rogers, announced at CES on Monday. Additionally, it will rely on Intel Core Series 3 processors, known as Panther Lake. These processors were unveiled last year and are now rolling out across multiple PC models.
According to reporting from IGN, later confirmed by TechCrunch, the platform will also include a chip designed specifically for handheld gaming devices. As a result, Intel appears to be tailoring its silicon more closely to portable gaming performance needs.
Chips, Competition, and Market Context
The Panther Lake chips mark a major step for Intel, as they are the first built on its 18A manufacturing process. Notably, production for this process began in 2025. Consequently, the platform ties next-generation manufacturing with a new gaming form factor.
Intel brings long experience to gaming, since it has produced gaming PC chips since the 1990s. Moreover, the company strengthened its gaming focus in 2022 with the launch of Intel Arc GPUs. However, handheld gaming remains a competitive space dominated by AMD.
AMD recently unveiled a new gaming processor, the Ryzen 7 9850X3D, during its CES keynote. In addition, it announced new ray tracing and graphics technologies. Despite this competition, Rogers said Intel will share more details about its handheld gaming products later this year.
