NUC is Dead – Intel’s sunsetting their Next Unit of Compute (NUC) products

Intel’s discontinuing its NUC series of mini PCs – There will be no next-generation NUCs

Intel has today confirmed that they will be sunsetting their NUC series of compact mini PCs, and that the company will not be releasing another generation of Next Unit of Computing (NUC) products. Intel’s NUC 13 generation will be their last.

All of Intel’s NUC systems were well made and capable mini PCs, systems that inspired many alternatives from competing manufacturers, and allowed users to create highly compact PC setups that were performant while being tiny in form factor. 

Moving forward, Intel plans to pivot its strategy towards supporting their industry partners when creating their own compact NUC-style mini systems, rather than creating new generations of NUCs with every new Intel CPU generation. 

    We have decided to stop direct investment in the Next Unit of Compute (NUC) Business and pivot our strategy to enable our ecosystem partners to continue NUC innovation and growth. This decision will not impact the remainder of Intel’s Client Computing Group (CCG) or Network and Edge Computing (NEX) businesses. Furthermore, we are working with our partners and customers to ensure a smooth transition and fulfillment of all our current commitments – including ongoing support for NUC products currently in market.

NUC’s legacy will live on, with 3rd parties filling Intel’s niche

While Intel may be sunsetting their NUC PC lineup, there is no shortage of companies who will be working to fill Intel’s niche. Upon hearing the news of Intel’s NUC discontinuation, MSI confirmed to us that they planned to continue creating NUC-style mini PCs moving forward, citing their MSI PRO DP21 13M as an example of a NUC-style system. 

MSI, and others, will continue creating NUC-like mini PCs, and that will allow the spirit of Intel’s NUC business unit to live on. 

Honestly, I will miss Intel’s NUC PC lineup. It was always interesting to see how much performance Intel could fit inside their mini PCs. Now that Intel has entered the discrete GPU market, I was interested in seeing how powerful Intel’s future NUCs could become. Perhaps Intel could have created an almost console-like mini gaming PC with Intel ARC graphics and a Core processor. Now we know that that future will never come to pass. We will miss you NUC, we hope that Intel’s partners can succeed in filling the void you have left behind. 

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