Intel isn’t backing down from making a mark in the discrete GPU (dGPU) market. Recent shipping manifests have hinted at an upcoming Battlemage model and a rather intriguing and unknown SKU in development.
### Reviving the Battlemage “BMG-G31” Design: A Possible Focus on AI and Professional Use
Last year, Intel took us by surprise with the introduction of two new Battlemage GPUs, the Arc B580 and B570. These garnered a lot of attention back then, particularly because neither NVIDIA nor AMD had launched their next-gen offerings at the time. Fast forward to the present, as we near the end of Q2, Intel has been notably silent about its plans for the desktop GPU arena. This silence had led many to believe that Intel might have lost interest. But, as recent shipping manifests suggest, that might not be the entire story.
A tweet surfaced revealing Intel’s work on “BMG-G31,” a more advanced chip than the current Battlemage GPUs. Rumored specifications indicate this variant could boast between 24-32 Xe2 cores, along with a 256-bit memory bus and 16 GB of GDDR6 memory. While speculation arose that Intel might scrap the BMG-G31 for the consumer market, the manifests specify that this chip is listed for “R&D purposes,” hinting at a targeted application in AI and professional tasks.
Another curios entry in the shipping log is the BMG “C32.” The naming is a bit puzzling, as it mixes initials from Battlemage and Celestial. Despite this, it seems to belong to the Battlemage family, possibly a revamped version of the “BMG-G31,” as noted by @mikdt. This indicates that Intel is working on multiple Battlemage variants, though it’s still unclear if any will make it to the desktop consumer market.
Intel’s strategy for discrete GPUs will be interesting to observe, especially as they develop the Xe3 “Celestial” architecture, destined for the upcoming Panther Lake SoCs. With the company’s new CEO steering the ship, there’s a clear shift towards AI, which suggests that Intel may prioritize releasing GPUs tailored more for AI tasks rather than mainstream consumer markets.
