In December, we reported that Intel's next‑generation Arc graphics cards, based on the Xe3 "Celestial" IP, are finished. Tom Petersen of Intel confirmed that the Xe3 IP is baked, meaning that basic media engines, Xe cores, XMX matrix engines, ray‑tracing engines, and other parts of the gaming GPU are already designed and most likely awaiting trial fabrication. Today, we learn that Intel has reached pre‑silicon validation, meaning that trial production is imminent. According to the X account @Haze2K1, which shared a snippet of Intel's milestones, a pre‑silicon hardware model of the Intel Arc Xe3 Celestial IP is being used to map out frequency and power usage in firmware. As a reminder, Intel's pre‑silicon validation platform enables OEM and IBV partners to boot and test new chip architectures months before any physical silicon is available, catching design issues much earlier in the development cycle.

Intel provides OEMs and IBVs access to a secure, cloud‑based environment that faithfully emulates hardware‑representative systems, allowing developers to validate firmware and software stacks from anywhere without the need for physical labs. Most likely, Intel is running massive emulations of hardware on FPGAs, which act as an ASIC chip—an Arc Xe3 GPU in this case. The pre‑silicon validation team is now optimizing the power‑frequency curve and the voltage in sleep, rest, and boost states, as well as their respective frequencies. With the Xe3 IP taking many forms, engineers are experimenting with every possible form factor, from mobile to discrete graphics. Additionally, data pathways depend on these frequency curves, which in turn rely on power states that allow voltage to spike up and down as the application requires. As this work is now complete, engineers are moving on to other areas for optimization, and once the silicon returns from volume production, it will be fully optimized. We expect the first trial of silicon soon, with volume production by the end of the year or in early 2026.