Anyone wondering what is filling up their GPU's VRAM can now try gputaskman, a free, open-source tool from Microsoft VP Scott Hanselman. It runs in a terminal window with an htop-style layout and lists every process using the GPU with its memory footprint, engine activity, and loaded runtime, such as CUDA or Vulkan. A panel up top tracks utilization, clocks, temperature, and power. Hanselman shared the project on X last week and asked for pull requests.

Task Manager has shown GPU usage since 2017, and it will happily tell you that 15 GB of video memory is in use. It just won't say what is using it. gputaskman goes after that gap with a heavy focus on local AI. Its model inspector can identify the LLM a process has loaded and report its quantization, weights, and estimated KV cache cost, while Ollama and LM Studio users also get context size and proper model names. Hanselman calls it early, experimental software, and the AI breakdowns are estimates for now.

Intel and Altera today announced a collaboration to develop a flexible, real-time sensor bridge for a range of Edge & Physical AI industries including healthcare, aerospace and defense, and robotics applications. By combining Intel compute, connectivity and software with Altera FPGAs, the companies aim to help original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) address the growing complexity of connecting, processing and acting on real-world data across increasingly sensor-rich edge environments.

Edge and Physical AI systems can require data from different sensors and interfaces to be brought together while meeting requirements for timing, performance, power and cost. Some applications also require very high bandwidth or flexible form factors in which input/output (I/O) is located away from the compute board. Sensor data must then be streamed rapidly into memory for the host Intel processor to use across edge, robotics and other workloads.

According to Nikkei, a procurement team from Terafab, the chip venture between Tesla and SpaceX, visited Japan and walked local equipment makers through what it plans to buy. The targets it reportedly shared are gigantic: 1 million wafers per month from 2032 onward, with around 700,000 of those going to memory chips and 300,000 to logic. Nikkei's headline puts that at 40 times the output of Japan's Rapidus. The same split first surfaced in a Jiji Press report last month, which said a single Texas plant would handle both memory and logic, with a pilot fab completed as early as July 2027. Intel is reportedly helping with logic using its 2 nm and 1.4 nm-class technology, while a Taiwanese company has been floated as a technology partner for memory. That could be Nanya, though nothing is confirmed.

For context, Samsung's entire DRAM output was estimated at 650,000 to 700,000 wafers a month late last year, while SK hynix was at about 550,000 earlier this year and hopes to reach roughly 1 million by 2030 or 2031. It isn't clear whether Terafab's memory figure covers DRAM alone or also includes NAND, so the Samsung comparison is a loose one. Musk has also been careful with his own dates. On an October SpaceX call, he put "big error bars" on reaching volume production by Q3 2028, with a first SRAM test chip planned for mid-2027 at Terafab's Austin research lab.

ASRock Rack is promising up to 4 TB of DDR5 on a single socket with its DMRD16-2L+, one of the first motherboards built for Intel's upcoming Xeon 7 "Diamond Rapids" processors. The board was shown at the OCP Global Summit 2026 and has since been detailed by ServeTheHome. It has 16 DIMM slots in a one-DIMM-per-channel layout, matching the 16-channel memory setup Intel detailed at HOT CHIPS. Regular RDIMMs top out at 128 GB per module and 8000 MT/s, while MRDIMMs run at up to 12,800 MT/s, with taller 2U MRDIMMs reaching 256 GB each. Populate all 16 slots with those, and you hit 4 TB, along with a theoretical bandwidth of roughly 1.6 TB/s.

Expansion is unusual, with no standard PCIe slots and no OCP NIC 3.0 connector. All I/O goes through up to 16 MCIO x8 connectors, each rated for PCIe 6.0 or CXL 3.0, for 128 lanes in total. The rest is fairly basic: one PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 slot, two Intel I350 Gigabit Ethernet ports, an ASPEED AST2700 BMC with a dedicated management port, and VGA output. ASRock Rack fits it all on a 12 x 13-inch EEB PCB, about the size of a large E-ATX board, so it could squeeze into some bigger workstation cases. Pricing and availability have not been shared yet, but that is hardly surprising, since Intel has the Xeon 7 family slated for a 2027 debut on the new LGA9324 socket. The board is aimed at servers, though anyone planning a high-memory workstation for local AI will probably keep an eye on it.

Maxsun has shared full specifications for the SK-PTLNAS and SK-WCLAIO, two NAS-focused MoDT (Mobile on Desktop) motherboards built around Intel's Panther Lake and Wildcat Lake chips. Both were first shown at Computex 2026 and are expected to launch this month, though pricing is still unknown. The SK-PTLNAS now tops out at the Core Ultra 9 386H, a 16-core chip with four Xe3 GPU cores, a 25 W base power and up to 80 W of turbo power. The Computex listing mentioned options up to the Core Ultra X9 388H, which no longer seems to be on the table. It supports up to 128 GB of DDR5-7200 memory across two SO-DIMM slots, with five M.2 slots and three Mini SAS ports for storage. The board also gets a PCIe 5.0 x8 slot, 10GbE, 2.5GbE and two 1GbE ports, plus two Thunderbolt 4 ports. Maxsun lists Windows 11 and Ubuntu support.

The SK-WCLAIO measures just 90 x 165 mm, a big change from the mATX design shown in June. It runs the six-core Core 7 350 (2P + 4LPE) with two Xe3 cores, a single DDR5-6400 SO-DIMM slot for up to 48 GB, 1 TB of onboard UFS 3.1 storage and four M.2 slots. Wildcat Lake has very few PCIe lanes, so those drives probably won't each get full x4 bandwidth. Maxsun rates the system at 45 W when active and 16 W with drives on standby, which should suit an always-on home NAS. The power input is a bit unclear for now, since the listing mentions both a 12 V DC jack and USB-C PD.

Intel's Razor Lake desktop processors, the generation that follows Nova Lake-S, are currently slated for 2028, according to well-known Intel leaker Jaykihn. When asked on X whether Razor Lake-S was planned for 2027, Jaykihn replied "not currently," then followed up saying Razor Lake is a 2028 product for now. A leaked partner slide placed the first Nova Lake-S SKUs in Q1 2027 and indicated Intel plans to keep LGA-1954 for multiple generations, so Razor Lake-S should drop into the same boards roughly a year later. Apparently, Razor Lake will use new Griffin Cove P-cores, which Jaykihn previously called "an entire tock" rather than a refinement. The same core will reportedly also power Intel's next-generation Coral Rapids Xeon processors, though simultaneous multithreading (SMT) stays exclusive to Xeon.

Jaykihn says the client and server versions are separate architectures built around a similar core, comparing it to how Coyote Cove relates to Panther Cove. Earlier leaks pointed to Intel using TSMC's N2X node for some Razor Lake production, and the 12 Xe3P core iGPU SKU originally meant for Nova Lake-S was reportedly pushed to Razor Lake. HWiNFO also added support for Razor Lake-H, HX, and S in a recent beta. If the plan holds, Nova Lake-S buyers would get a proper CPU upgrade path without swapping motherboards, which is a welcome change after Intel went through three sockets in the last five years. Of course, timelines this far out can move, and Intel hasn't confirmed any of this, so it's reasonable to treat 2028 as a target for now.

HWiNFO's newest beta, v8.55-6115, adds recognition for an AMD Radeon RX 7500, a graphics card AMD has not yet announced. The changelog entry is a single line with only the name, so the specs, the GPU underneath, and any launch plans are all unknown for now. The most likely candidate is probably the 6 nm "Navi 33" RDNA 3 chip, which already powers the 28 CU RX 7400 and the fully enabled 32 CU RX 7600. Of course, a card squeezed between those two would leave AMD very little room to work with, so the name is a bit puzzling. AMD hasn't said anything about the card so far, but we have heard the name before.

When the RX 7400 and RX 7300 first appeared in rumors back in 2024, there were rumblings of an RX 7500 XT desktop graphics card, though nothing concrete ever followed. Moving onto other additions to HWiNFO, the same build also adds enhanced support for Intel's Nova Lake-E and Razor Lake-H, HX, and S processors. Razor Lake is the platform expected to follow Nova Lake, and Intel has yet to officially announce it. CPUID added Razor Lake support to CPU-Z 3.02 earlier this week, while HWiNFO picked up preliminary Razor Lake-AX support back in August. With the first Nova Lake-S desktop chips not expected until Q1 2027, retail Razor Lake chips are probably still a long way out.

Beelink today announced the Kickstarter launch of the ME Pro, a modular NAS available in two-bay and four-bay configurations. Its swappable motherboard design lets users upgrade performance or add drive bays as their needs change. The ME Pro uses cooling and vibration damping to help reduce operating noise and comes with Fygo OS preinstalled for file sync, backup, and remote access.

Modular Hardware for Flexible Upgrades and Quiet Operation

• Swappable motherboard modules. A slide-out design supports compatible Intel and AMD motherboard modules. The same module can move between compatible two-bay and four-bay enclosures in either direction, so users can keep their existing motherboard when expanding storage.
• Compact, one-piece metal chassis. The enclosure takes up about 50% less space than NAS systems with the same number of drive bays, making it easier to fit on a desk or in a living room or studio.
• Cooling and vibration control. Thermally conductive silicone and aluminium brackets draw heat away from the drives. A vapor chamber and internal blower distribute and dissipate heat, while a tightly secured assembly helps reduce vibration noise. The ME Pro is designed for round-the-clock operation, with noise levels as low as 34 dB.

CPUID has released CPU-Z 3.02, and the first line of its changelog simply reads "Intel Razor Lake support." Razor Lake is the processor family expected to follow Nova Lake, and Intel has yet to officially announce it. The changelog doesn't say which Razor Lake variants are covered or how deep that support goes, so this could be anything from basic detection to early groundwork. The November 4 update also adds the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700, along with fixes for an SPD reading issue on Intel Broadwell-E and a validation problem on Windows XP.

Of course, system tools tend to pick up new chips well before they reach store shelves. HWiNFO added early Nova Lake support back in August 2025, and the first Nova Lake-S desktop chips still aren't expected until Q1 2027. HWiNFO also added preliminary support for Razor Lake-AX in August this year, the rumored large APU that could pack up to 32 Xe3 GPU cores alongside on-package memory.

Intel today released the latest version of Arc GPU Graphics drivers. Version 101.9175 WHQL comes with optimization for "Football Manager 27," "Phantom Blade Zero," and "World of Warcraft: Forever." The drivers also address issues related to "Planet Zoo 2" experiencing intermittent application crash after modifying endurance gaming settings; "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4" exhibiting textures incorrectly; lower than expected performance with "Gears of War: E-Day," and UL Procyon AI tests failing to complete. Grab the drivers from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: Intel Arc GPU Graphics Drivers 101.9175 WHQL

Intel's upcoming Core Ultra 4000 "Nova Lake-S" desktop processors will reportedly cap their maximum core frequency at 5.1 GHz whenever they run above 90°C, according to Intel leaker Jaykihn on X. He says the limit applies to the entire Nova Lake-S desktop lineup, works separately from regular TjMax throttling at 100°C, and can't be raised. He also notes that the information is still preliminary. In practice, it looks like a safety net that sits between normal boost behavior and full thermal throttling. Below 90°C, the chips should presumably boost as usual, and models that don't exceed 5.1 GHz in the first place wouldn't be affected at all.

Final Nova Lake clocks aren't official yet, though the current Core Ultra 9 285K already boosts up to 5.7 GHz, so a high-end Nova Lake chip that runs hot could lose a sizable chunk of its peak frequency. A 100°C TjMax would also be lower than Arrow Lake's 105°C, which can be manually raised to 115°C on the 285K. That puts more weight on cooling, since the 28-core Core Ultra 9 4970K BFC was reportedly set to pull up to 296 W at PL2 despite its 125 W rating, and staying under 90°C at that kind of power draw will probably take a really capable cooler. Nova Lake-S is currently expected to arrive in Q1 2027, and Intel hasn't confirmed any of this yet.

AMD looks set to bring in more quarterly revenue than Intel for what appears to be the first time ever. Alongside its record Q3 2026 results, AMD guided Q4 revenue to approximately $17 billion, plus or minus 3%, or roughly $16.5 billion to $17.5 billion. Intel, on the other hand, expects Q4 revenue between $15 billion and $16 billion. Even the bottom of AMD's range sits above the top of Intel's, so unless either company misses its guidance badly, the flip is pretty much locked in.

Most of AMD's growth comes from the data center. AMD's Data Center segment hit a record $8.5 billion in Q3, up 97% year over year, on strong EPYC demand and the launch of the Instinct MI450 Series GPUs inside its Helios racks. AMD expects the segment to grow about 50% sequentially in Q4, while Client and Gaming is expected to drop by more than 20%. Intel's Q4 outlook, meanwhile, came in well below expectations, partly due to a two-week shutdown at Fab 28 in Israel that Intel says will cost about $300 million in Q4 revenue.

Intel is reportedly preparing two new processor SKUs focused on extremely low-power computing. The first, called "Moon Lake," is designed as a pure low-power efficiency (LPE) core SoC. The "Moon Lake" generation features no P-Cores and up to 4 "Darkmont" LPE-Cores on the Intel 18A die. Unlike "Wildcat Lake," which includes at least 2 P-Cores, "Moon Lake" is intended to be a much smaller design for embedded devices like NAS. The base power of "Moon Lake" is reportedly rated at 6 W, similar to an SoC typically used in smartphones. The number of Xe3 cores in this SKU is unknown, but since "Wildcat Lake" has up to 2 Xe3 cores, we expect "Moon Lake" to have half of that to maintain its 6 W TDP. Intel has manufactured "Moon Lake" on its 18A node and placed it on the BGA1516 package, the same platform used by "Wildcat Lake." The official moniker for "Moon Lake" is MNL, and it could be a successor to the N-Series, like the previous "Alder Lake-N" series of low-power processors.

Additionally, Intel is preparing an overhaul of "Wildcat Lake" with the new "Wildcat Lake Refresh." When Intel launched the Core 300 Series "Wildcat Lake" earlier this year, these processors came with up to 2 P-Cores, 4 E-Cores, and up to 2 Xe3 GPU cores, with a package reaching up to 35 W. However, the new "Wildcat Lake Refresh" is expected to increase the number of P-Cores to 4 while keeping the same base microarchitecture of "Cougar Cove" and maintaining 4 "Darkmont" LPE-Cores. The integrated graphics remain similar, with up to 2 Xe3 cores. Importantly, this refresh adds support for Intel's vPro technology, meaning that enterprise customers are in for a surprise with a new low-cost option for their PCs.

Leaker Haze2K1 says on X that Intel might put the Arc B580 on the end-of-life (EOL) list. Apparently, Intel wants to prioritize workstation and AI inference cards like the Arc Pro B50, which are reportedly selling really well and carry higher margins. Intel hasn't confirmed anything, and Haze2K1 only says the card "might" go EOL, so this is only a rumor for now. However, the logic checks out. The Arc B580 launched in December 2024 at $249 and beat the RTX 4060 in TechPowerUp's review. The Arc Pro B50 and B60 use the same BMG-G21 silicon, and the B60 pairs the same 20 Xe cores with 24 GB of memory instead of 12 GB. Intel estimated the B60 at around $500 at launch, roughly double the B580's price. Clearly, Intel stands to gain more monetary benefit from the workstation cards.

As for the consumer GPUs, their supply already looks quite thin. The B580 is reportedly out of stock at most retailers, and prices have also climbed well above MSRP. The leaker doesn't mention the Arc B570, so we don't know if Intel has similar plans for that card as well. Intel's larger BMG-G31 chip also showed up in March in the workstation-only Arc Pro B70 and B65, so the shift toward pro cards seems to be underway already. If the B580 does go away, gamers will lose one of the more affordable 12 GB cards, even though the Arc B580 was selling above its MSRP. That said, I wouldn't expect cheaper Arc cards anytime soon

As spotted by Club386, two motherboards based on Intel's Z970 chipset have shown up in the NBD shipping database, which logs Vietnamese customs records. Going by the names, both appear to be from ASRock: the Z970 LiveMixer WiFi and the Z970 Pro-A WiFi. The entries refer to PCBs shipping at the end of September 2026. The Z970 chipset is rumored to support CPU multiplier overclocking, but not the base clock tweaking that Z990 is expected to offer. Leaker Jaykihn has also previously reported that it will replace most of the market the B860 covers today. If that ends up being the case, it would be a big change, since Intel has kept CPU overclocking on its most expensive chipset for years, while AMD allows it on most of its B-series boards.

Intel's Robert Hallock has previously said the goal is more unlocked SKUs over time, and that overclocking shouldn't be reserved for the people paying the most. It looks like that approach could extend to motherboards too. Of course, Intel hasn't announced Z970 or Z990 yet, so this is all unofficial, and we don't know what the prices of either would look like. Moreover, shipments this early don't necessarily mean retail boards are close. Intel has reportedly promised more details at CES in January 2027, which fits the rumored CES 2027 launch window. If Z970 does arrive at B860 prices, it could be the most interesting platform for most builders.

Valve's October 2026 Steam Hardware & Software Survey shows much of September's odd data snapping back. After 32 GB system RAM overtook 16 GB last month, the 16 GB tier is back in first place at 41.42% (up 3.60 points), while 32 GB dropped 5.16 points to 37.06%. The GeForce RTX 3060 is the most common GPU again at 3.62% across all platforms, a spot it held before September, while the RTX 5070 fell from 5.86% to 3.56%. It looks like the survey sample played a big part. Simplified Chinese fell 9.41 points to 21.98%, while English rose 4.84 points to 39.04%. The survey is voluntary, so a change in who responds can move the numbers without an actual hardware change behind it. We can't confirm that, but it would explain why so many categories shifted at once.

Windows 11 rose 1.17 points to 72.51%, and Linux climbed 0.90 points to 3.95%. The 1440p share dropped 5.22 points to 21.82%, while 1080p sits at 50.23%. On Windows, Intel gained 0.89 points to reach 53.48% CPU share, with AMD at 46.51%. Valve's Steam Frame, which launched in September, now holds 4.13% of surveyed VR headsets, up 3.72 points, while Meta Quest 3 continues to dominate with a 27.27% share. However, headset owners are only 1.75% of the survey, so it's a small group. The interesting bit is still the system RAM split, and while 32 GB RAM had been slowly gaining on 16 GB, it looks like September was the outlier. November's data should give us a better idea of the split.

Recovered drivers have reportedly restored 3D acceleration to an Intel "Larrabee" prototype, offering the community a rare chance to test the company's abandoned graphics project. Reddit user "pkellythompson" discovered the hardware in equipment purchased at a storage auction, along with two USB drives containing Intel's development software. The Intel Visual Adrenaline system includes a DX58SO motherboard, a C0 stepping "Larrabee" sample, and a diagnostic board. Getting it running required using DVI instead of HDMI and adjusting the storage controller's BIOS settings, so Windows 7 could boot. The recovered archives, approximately 82 MB and 728 MB, include drivers, documentation, development utilities, and VBIOS instructions.

First publicly detailed in 2008, the "Larrabee" project aimed to challenge NVIDIA and AMD's dedicated graphics cards. Larrabee handled much of its graphics processing through software running on simple in-order x86 cores with wide vector units, assisted by dedicated texture hardware. Intel canceled its consumer graphics launch in December 2009 after development fell behind expectations, although the architecture later powered Xeon Phi accelerators. The restored prototype reportedly ran Crysis at 1280×720p with Medium settings and antialiasing disabled. Initial results exceeded 17 FPS, with another recovered driver boosting performance to around 36 FPS.

Haswell owners finally have a way to get Resizable BAR running on Intel 8-series motherboards. As spotted by Haze on X, a developer going by roschank has released reBART, an open-source UEFI driver for Z87, H87, Q87, B85, Q85, and H81 boards. Back in 2020, it was reported that Intel CPUs since Haswell support Resizable BAR, pending firmware updates from motherboard makers that never came for 8-series. The developer went digging after failing to get Above 4G Decoding working on their own B85 board, and found that Intel's 8-series platform code skips mapping memory above 4 GB altogether, something both 7-series and 9-series firmware handle. Apparently, every board maker they checked inherited the same gap, so the 4G toggle some of these BIOSes expose likely does nothing.

reBART lets the board boot normally and only kicks in right before the OS loads. At that point, it shifts the GPU's memory window up past the 4 GB line and points the boot display at the new location too. Unlike ReBarUEFI, it doesn't need module patching, though a DSDT patch is still required. Newer builds added experimental support for Intel Arc cards and multi-GPU setups, which is important since Intel once told Arc buyers without ReBAR to stick with other vendors. One user reports an Arc A750 and an Arc B580 both working with an unlimited BAR size on a Gigabyte GA-Z87M-D3H under Ubuntu. Of course, going this route means flashing a modified BIOS, and at least one ASUS Z87-Plus owner couldn't get the board to boot after the DSDT patch. The developer hasn't shared any performance numbers yet either.

Tuxedo Computers has just announced its Nano Pro Gen15, a new mini PC powered by Intel's Panther Lake Core Ultra X7 358H CPU and its capable Arc B390 iGPU. The mini PC is a workstation targeting developers and home lab enthusiasts who want to run "local, secure, sovereign" LLMs, but Tuxedo also fully acknowledges that it can be used as a no-fuss mini gaming PC, thanks to Intel's graphics integrated into the Linux kernel of the pre-installed TuxedoOS. Physically, the Nano Pro Gen15 measures in at just 110 × 117.5 × 49 mm, and it features a plastic chassis, although Tuxedo has maintained a repair-friendly design, with just four screws required to access the internals, where the upgradeable RAM, storage, and wireless cards are easily accessible.

Tuxedo supplies a 120 W external power supply that connects via a barrel adaptor, but it makes no claims about the actual maximum TDP of the Intel CPU inside. Connectivity on the Nano Pro Gen15 is reasonable, if not stellar, with Wi-Fi 7 and dual 2.5 GbE for networking, alongside Bluetooth 6 for peripheral connectivity. On the back of the mini PC, there is a DC-in power port, the aforementioned 2.5 GbE ports, 2× USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, 2× HDMI ports with HDMI 2.1 support on Windows and 2.0b support on Linux (for now). On the front of the mini PC, there is a USB4 port, 1× USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C port with DP 1.4a Alt Mode, and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port alongside a 3.5 mm audio combo jack. Tuxedo says that, between the USB Type-C ports and the dedicated HDMI ports, the Nano Pro Gen15 can support up to four simultaneous displays.

Acer and Intel showed off the Predator Atlas 8 gaming handheld, powered by the new Intel Arc G3 APUs, at Computex in June 2026, and while it was speculated that the new handhelds would not be cheap, given the specs and expected performance, it seems less and less likely that there will be even a single Acer Predator Atlas 8 priced at under $1,000.

Acer recently updated its Predator Atlas 8 product page in the UK in order to allow users to "register their interest," and the OEM handily included prices for the various different Atlas 8 models on the page, giving us an idea of what to expect for the rest of the world as well. The cheapest version of Acer's Predator Atlas 8 gaming handheld will cost £999.99, which converts to $1,346, although it's likely that pricing will be lower in the US. The Acer Predator Atlas 8 is slated to release "this autumn," suggesting a release window sometime between September and December.

Update Oct 31st: Acer has officially listed the Predator Atlas 8 for $1,299.99 at Best Buy, and the only available configuration at the time of update is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme-powered variant with a 512 GB SSD and 24 GB of memory—a variant not previously listed on Acer's product page and likely introduced to bring the price down, given the ever-increasing cost of SSDs. It's unclear when the Arc G3 versions with less memory will be available.

Intel is moving some manufacturing capacity away from consumer chips to keep up with demand for its Xeon server processors. During its Q3 2026 earnings call, the company said it will convert some Intel 18A resources at its Oregon facilities to Intel 3, the node behind Xeon 6 "Granite Rapids." According to CFO Dave Zinsner, those 18A wafers "are generally going to build Panther Lake products." Zinsner also indicated that weaker PC demand gives Intel room to make the switch, as the company expects the PC slowdown to last at least through the first half of next year. CEO Lip-Bu Tan said the added Intel 3 capacity should be in production in the second half of 2027.

Intel CEO Lip-Bu TanThe industry continues to navigate one of the most significant supply shortages in the history, driven by the unprecedented demand for Super Intelligence. Against this backdrop, I am pleased by the progress we made growing our server supply in Q3. I'm mindful about the ongoing challenges we face in the future quarters to keep pace with the server demand.

Apple is once again the world's most valuable company, taking the top spot back from NVIDIA after Friday's trading session. Apple shares slipped 1.2% on October 30, leaving it with a market cap of $5.03 trillion, while NVIDIA dropped 4.2% to close at $4.93 trillion. This is the first time Apple has been ahead since it briefly overtook NVIDIA in late July. For context, NVIDIA became the first company to cross $5 trillion almost exactly a year ago, in October 2025. Friday's sell-off came after a run of tech earnings that disappointed investors, with Intel and Amazon following earlier reports from Alphabet and Meta. Intel's stock fell roughly 29% on Friday after a weak Q4 outlook, which CNBC called its worst day since the 1970s.

It looks like the bigger concern is whether the huge spending on AI data centers will pay off, and NVIDIA, as the main supplier of AI GPUs, is directly tied to those budgets. The outlays have grown large enough that Alphabet and Amazon have seen their free cash flow turn negative, pushing them toward debt markets for funding. Apple, meanwhile, has largely stayed out of the AI infrastructure race and kept its capital spending in check. Its shares are up 27% this year, more than twice NVIDIA's gain, and its free cash flow for fiscal 2026 (ended September 30) is projected to climb 38% to $142 billion. The gap between the two is only about $100 billion, though, so the ranking could easily flip back with one good day for NVIDIA.

Intel shares fell roughly 29% on Friday to $65.76 after the company's fourth-quarter outlook came in well below Wall Street expectations. According to CNBC, it was the stock's worst day since the 1970s. Intel had closed at $92.07 on Thursday, right before it posted its third-quarter 2026 results. Oddly enough, the quarter itself was a good one. Revenue came in at $16.5 billion, up 21% year over year, and adjusted EPS of $0.52 easily beat the roughly $0.40 analysts were expecting. Data Center and AI revenue jumped 78% to $7.3 billion, while the Client Computing Group slipped 5% to $8.1 billion.

Investors, however, were looking at Q4. Intel expects revenue between $15 billion and $16 billion, against a consensus of around $17 billion, with adjusted EPS of just $0.25. Non-GAAP gross margin is also expected to fall to about 38% from 44% in Q3. Part of the shortfall comes from a plant shutdown in Israel. CFO David Zinsner said Intel sees "the PC slowdown continuing at least through the first half of next year." On the earnings call, the company said it expects the PC market to shrink by about 12% in units this year, and it reportedly sees another 10% decline in 2027.

A lot of information relating to Intel Nova Lake-S has emerged leading up to the official launch in early 2027, including official information from Intel detailing the Nova Lake architecture and a recent benchmark leak that promised significant single-thread performance improvements on a 28-core Nova Lake-S part. However, a recent leak out of @Haze2K1 on X, shared by VideoCardz, purports that the real-world performance improvements for Intel's Nova Lake desktop CPUs are in the double digit range.

While the leaker has been around for a while, there is no guarantee that this information is accurate, since the only cited source is "circulating chatter," however, the claim is that Intel's Nova Lake will outperform comparable last-generation Arrow Lake CPUs by 8-17% in raw single-thread performance, 15% in general-purpose workloads, and up to 20% in gaming. There is some nuance to these claims, with the 17% improvement figure exclusive to the higher-end CPUs that feature bLLC, while the 17% boost allegedly comes from the implementation of Intel's new Advanced Performance Extensions.

During the Q3 2026 earnings call, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan confirmed that the company's upcoming flagship client CPU, codenamed "Nova Lake," will be produced by Intel Foundry using its 18A-P node. Initially, Intel planned to outsource the main compute tile production for "Nova Lake" to TSMC, utilizing its 2 nm N2 node. TSMC was expected to handle about 60-70% of the production, with the remainder produced in-house by Intel Foundry on the 18A node. This meant Intel would dual-source production for its next-generation chip. However, later supply chain information suggested that the company intended to bring the majority of "Nova Lake" compute tile production in-house, with these compute tiles being made on the Intel 18A-P node. Today, we received confirmation directly from the Intel CEO:

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan"Nova Lake," our first Intel 18A-P client product, is tracking ahead of schedule, with design wins expected to be twice those of "Panther Lake" at launch. We look forward to sharing more at CES in January.