Apart from AMD and NVIDIA, Intel has also revealed its distinct GPU roadmap, which includes up to four generations. The release dates, however, have not been announced as of now.
The company has not revealed much other than their plans for four ARC product generations: Battlemage, Alchemist, Druid, and Celestial. Intel fans quickly connected the dots and started asking if the 5th Gen Arc series would proceed with ordinal naming, which Intel later appeared to verify. The first generation, dubbed Alchemist, is now set to hit the market in the first quarter of 2022 for mobile devices and the second quarter for desktops.
Whilst, information on Arc Druid is scarce at the moment. Intel has already affirmed that it will use the Xe Next Architecture, implying that it will be the first worthy heir to the Xe HPG. While the 2nd Gen Arc “Battlemage” is expected to be released in 2023, no release dates were given for Celestian and Druid.
According to Bryce, Intel’s Arc Community Advocate and Driver Guru, Druid could be released in 2025.
Normally, such a tweet should be taken with a grain of salt, but many people assumed Druid would be a 2025 product. Intel was simply hesitant to affirm it at this moment; after all, we’re speaking about a product four generations in the future.
If Druid does indeed arrive in 2025, Intel will release its Arc GPU series on an annual basis, as compared to their rivals, who release new architectures every two years.
If all goes well, that could be when Intel ARC 'Druid' cards come out… game on 🎮😉
— Bryce_GfxDriverGuru (@theBryceIsRt) November 23, 2021