Intel’s Arc Pro A-Series GPUs Are Coming Later This Year

Intel has introduced its Arc Pro A-Series range of professional GPUs. Launched at SIGGRAPH, the first products are the Intel Arc Pro A30M GPU for mobile form factors and the Intel Arc Pro A40 (single slot) and A50 (dual slot) GPUs for small desktops.

Intel first announced its discrete graphics processors (GPUs) in March, which included a line made specifically for laptops. It followed that announcement with its very affordable Arc 3 graphics processors in June.

When Intel first announced its Arc GPUs, the company said that it would bring more powerful versions of them designed for desktops and workstations later in 2022 — a promise that the company appears to have kept.

Intel says that all the GPUs in the range feature built-in ray tracing hardware, matching learning capabilities, and what it claims is the industry-first AV1 hardware encoding acceleration.

“Intel Arc Pro A-series graphics are targeting certifications with leading professional software applications within the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC), and design and manufacturing (D&M) industries,” Intel says.

“Intel Arc Pro GPUs are also optimized for media and entertainment (M&E) applications such as Blender and run the open source libraries in the Intel oneAPI Rendering Toolkit, which are widely adopted and integrated in industry-leading rendering tools.”

The Arc GPUs have been the center of swirling rumors as of late. According to a report from Igor’s Lab, Intel’s board partners are becoming “frustrated” with the lack of communication and delays. The report is particularly biting, and suggests many OEMs are upset with Intel because, in contrast to NVIDIA and AMD, the company was unable to provide any price guarantees and that the framework conditions and bases for cost drivers like RMA and returns were significantly worse than those of the competitors.

According to Ars Technica, the company has been quite public about its struggles with drivers which are hurting the cards’ performance in older games, while the graphics division is losing money at a time when Intel as a whole is struggling with falling revenues.

Despite these issues and rumors, Intel appears to be going forward. The company says that the Arc Pro GPUs will be available starting later this year, but did not provide any specific timelines.