Intel to Discontinue Production of NUC Mini PCs
Intel has announced that it will no longer produce its own mini PCs, known as Next Unit of Compute (NUC). The chip designer has confirmed that it is ending its “direct investment” in the NUC business and will instead focus on supporting partners to develop the NUC PC market. However, Intel will continue to fulfill its existing commitments, including providing support for NUC systems that are already in the hands of customers.
The company does not explain why it is discontinuing production of first-party NUCs. There’s no doubt, however, that the company is reeling from a dismal PC market brought on by both the rough economy and the pandemic’s early sales surge. Intel’s revenue has fallen by more than a third over the past two quarters, and its PC-focused Client Computing Group has been one of the hardest hit divisions. As ServeTheHome points out, such a move allows Intel to shed non-essential business and focus on making chips. The company sold its server business to MiTAC earlier this year.
Intel released the first NUC in 2013 as a small, barebones PC series that was meant to showcase both the latest processors and the possibilities of compact desktops. Over time, they evolved into more complete systems with strong performance and, in some later incarnations, a dedicated GPU. You can use them at home, but they also had a following in business—they were useful in computing clusters and other situations where size and simplicity mattered.
However, the NUC faced several challenges. Some models were better suited for gaming and other demanding tasks, but packing more and more power-hungry processors and GPUs into small cases became a challenge. Intel also faced increasingly tough competition. In the domestic market, the Mac mini is probably the most well-known mini computer. At work, brands like Dell and Lenovo offer more flexible configurations and stronger support for the enterprise crowd. Simply put, there isn’t as much reason for the NUC to exist as there was a decade ago.
