Intel on Thursday said that its codenamed Clearwater Forest processor for data centers will only be launched in the first half of 2026, roughly two years after the company introduced its Xeon 6-series CPUs and one or two quarters behind schedule. By contrast, Intel's Panther Lake product for client PCs — which uses the same 18A process technology — is on track for a 2H 2025 launch.
The delay of the key server processor comes amid the company's unveiling of Intel's financial results for the fourth quarter of 2024 and the entire year, which revealed massive losses. Paired with Intel's announced cancellation of its Falcon Shores AI GPUs, Intel's competitive posture for the exploding AI market is now severely weakened.
