Intel plans to ship over 4 million discrete GPUs this year, including new Arc graphics

What you need to know

• Intel expects to ship over 4 million discrete GPUs this year.
• The company's upcoming Arc graphics are set to compete with offerings from NVIDIA and AMD.
• Intel plans to ship graphics cards for desktops in the second quarter of 2022 and to workstations in the third quarter of this year.

Intel's upcoming Arc GPUs should compete with the best graphics cards from AMD and NVIDIA. The company appears to have bullish plans for the GPUs, including shipping more than 4 million of them in 2022. Intel recently outlined some of its plans to investors (via PC Gamer). In addition to sharing plans for Intel Arc, the chipmaker teased its upcoming Celestial graphics, which will target high-end enthusiasts.

"AXG expects to ship more than 4 million discrete GPUs in 2022," said Intel to investors. "OEMs are introducing notebooks with Intel Arc graphics, code-named Alchemist, for sale in the first quarter of 2022. Intel will ship add-in cards for desktops in the second quarter and workstations by the third quarter."

AXG is the shortened name for Intel's Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics Group, which is in charge of the company's discrete GPUs.

The first Arc graphics should roll out at some point in the first quarter of 2022. The first wave of Arc GPUs will likely be for mobile devices, such as laptops. In the second quarter of 2022, Intel should start shipping Arc GPUs for desktops. Finally, workstation cards should come out in the third quarter of 2022.

Intel also teased its Celestial architecture to investors, though it didn't share many details. The Celestial lineup will "address the ultra-enthusiast segment," according to Intel.