Earlier this week we received some disappointing news when Intel announced that they were suspending the investment and construction of their Next Unit of Computing (NUC). The tiny PCs have been a favourite for many users, including with power users flocking to the more capable Canyon series such as the Skull, Hades, Serpent and the most recent Raptor Canyon NUCs.
According to an Intel spokesperson, Intel has “decided to stop direct investment in the Next Unit of Compute (NUC) Business and pivot [their] strategy to enable [their] ecosystem partners to continue NUC innovation and growth.”
All products that have been announced so far will be introduced by Intel but all others that are in development but not yet announced are now shelved, seemingly forever. NUCs will still be able to be ordered from Intel until September 1, 2023, with the last shipment date expected to be 30 September, 2023.
NUCs have been popular as not just low-compute PCs for minimal computing requirements but also at the higher end such as the Raptor Canyon released late last year but with Intel pivoting to focus on their chipsets the development has been turned over to their ecosystem partners.
Asus are set to cash in on this shift in direction from Intel, announcing that they will be taking over the development and manufacturing of NUCs in the future. This is all with the blessing of Intel with Intel handing Asus a non-exclusive licence to Intel’s NUC designs.
As part of this new NUC business unit at Asus they will take on the support of NUCs as well as manufacturing new and old NUCs themselves. As it is a non-exclusive agreement though Intel may decide to licence it out to other interested parties in the future. Asus already have a foot in the camp though with a decent range of mini PCs already on the market.
It is a sigh of relief from me that Asus will be taking over the development of NUCs with many of us preferring a powerful PC in a small compact housing. My Hades Canyon is getting long in the tooth and could do with an upgrade — I’ll be keeping a close eye on this segment going forwards. Let’s all be glad it is still a segment thanks to Asus and the cooperation of Intel.
