Intel Exits NUC Business, Will Rely on External Partners

Intel
(Image credit: Intel)

Intel has today announced plans to cease "direct investment" of its Next Unit of Compute (NUC) business. The company wants its partners to continue offering compact desktops to interested parties.

Tom's Hardware asked Intel for a statement after we learnt of an email sent by Intel to its NUC partners. The email apparently had the following line, as reported by Serve The Home. "Intel has decided to stop direct investment in the Next Unit of Compute (NUC) product line…"

Intel's official response to our request is as follows.

"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," a statement by Intel reads. "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."

Intel currently offers three types of NUC systems: typical compact PCs aimed at consumers and home offices, business and corporate-oriented machines with support for features like remote management and vPro, and high-performance machines designed for gamers and demanding users.

Intel's own NUCs have been popular systems and have competed against similar machines from traditional PC brands. But supporting a broad range of desktops and laptops barebones is somewhat of a burden for Intel, which is primarily a chip company. Furthermore, given shrinking PC market and cut-throat competition, profitability of NUC business probably suffered in the recent quarters.  

That said, it is not really surprising that the company wants its partners to continue making compact machines for SOHO market, business users, and enthusiasts while it concentrates on highly profitable chip production.

Under the leadership of its new CEO, Pat Gelsinger, Intel has decided to pull out of several ventures, such as the 3D NAND memory and SSD sector, the Optane SSD division, the notebook modem operations, the Barefoot switching business, and most recently servers. These moves by Intel are parts of a larger efforts to concentrate more intensively on a number of core businesses and, ideally, to increase profitability. 

Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

  • peachpuff
    I'm surprised anyone even bought these things.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    peachpuff said:
    I'm surprised anyone even bought these things.
    Why? They are perfectly fine for people who just need something to type on, point-of-sale terminals, kiosks, digital signage, heaps of office seats, etc. that may require screens larger than what you can get on a laptop. If I didn't already have a spare PC to toss in my living room, I would have a NUC-like box plugged into my living room TV instead.
    Reply
  • artk2219
    InvalidError said:
    Why? They are perfectly fine for people who just need something to type on, point-of-sale terminals, kiosks, digital signage, heaps of office seats, etc. that may require screens larger than what you can get on a laptop. If I didn't already have a spare PC to toss in my living room, I would have a NUC-like box plugged into my living room TV instead.
    Yep, but I'm with him on why anyone bought Intel's NUC's specifically. They were almost always outclassed by offerings from others that were, cheaper, faster, smaller, more configurable, etc.
    Reply
  • Corwin65
    My company uses them exclusively with few exceptions.
    Reply
  • punkncat
    Admittedly, I think the NUC is a neat concept. The Intel offerings have been poorly priced, IMO, considering that most of them come as bare bones that you still need to spend (even more) on hardware to make them operational. In that market, the direct competition by such as BeeLink wipes the floor considering price to performance. I could fully understand why it hasn't been profitable or desirable to continue in that market.
    Reply
  • cyrusfox
    Nice premium device, but pricing was always more, even when they were 1-2 generations old. Another Intel business shuttered. Guessing they were not profitable?

    NUC extreme was a fun concept, contained PC on a PCIE, but with them being less competitive than AMD and inefficient, not a winning combination.
    Reply
  • NeoMorpheus
    Love this!

    Karma is indeed a * Intel.

    Next, they are forced to sell their headquarters, just like how AMD was forced to do, thanks to Intel illegal actions.
    Reply
  • peachpuff
    InvalidError said:
    Why? They are perfectly fine for people who just need something to type on, point-of-sale terminals, kiosks, digital signage, heaps of office seats, etc. that may require screens larger than what you can get on a laptop. If I didn't already have a spare PC to toss in my living room, I would have a NUC-like box plugged into my living room TV instead.
    All those examples you mentioned are business related, and for something to type on you can get cheaper matx sized PC's. Unless you live in a closet you don't need to spend more for a tiny pc, everyone has room for a pc.
    Reply
  • outsider2k21
    peachpuff said:
    I'm surprised anyone even bought these things.
    I bought one for my senior parents.
    Reply
  • artk2219
    peachpuff said:
    All those examples you mentioned are business related, and for something to type on you can get cheaper matx sized PC's. Unless you live in a closet you don't need to spend more for a tiny pc, everyone has room for a pc.
    Even if its not a NUC form factor, several manufacturers have Micro builds that offer things like a socketed cpu, upgradable ram, m.2 and sata, and are not much bigger in size as part of their regular offerings. Making them overall better options, especially if you're looking at the used market.

    https://www.manualslib.com/manual/2200933/Dell-Optiplex-7090-Micro-Form-Factor.html?page=33#manual
    i5 micro
    Reply