Intel's crucial 18A Panther Lake chip roadmap for 2026 faces significant market hurdles, as soaring memory chip prices are pressuring OEMs to raise commercial PC prices and potentially hindering the chip's market performance.

  • OEMs are expected to raise commercial PC prices significantly, ranging from 10% to 30%, due to shortages and rising memory chip costs.
  • Insufficient memory supply and pricing pressure may disqualify some Panther Lake designs from meeting the 16GB requirement for Microsoft's "Copilot+ PC" designation.