ASUS and Intel late on Tuesday introduced that they’d agreed to a time period sheet involving Intel’s NUC enterprise, guaranteeing the continued help of current NUC {hardware} in addition to the event of recent designs. Below the phrases of the deal, ASUS will obtain a non-exclusive license to current Intel’s NUC techniques designs, the suitable to develop future designs, and an obligation to help current NUCs. The world’s largest motherboard provider and one of many prime 10 PC makers will thus take over a good portion of the NUC program.
“As we pivot our technique to allow ecosystem companions to proceed NUC techniques product innovation and progress, our precedence is to make sure a clean transition for our clients and companions,” mentioned Sam Gao, Intel vp and common supervisor of Intel Shopper Platform Options. “I’m wanting ahead to ASUS persevering with to ship distinctive merchandise and supporting our NUC techniques clients.”
“Thanks, Intel, on your confidence in us to take the NUC techniques product line ahead,” mentioned Joe Hsieh, ASUS chief working officer. “I’m assured that this collaboration will improve and speed up our imaginative and prescient for the mini PC – vastly increasing our footprint in areas resembling AI and AioT. We’re dedicated to making sure the superb help and repair that NUC techniques clients count on.”
The transfer comes as Intel final week introduced that the corporate will probably be exiting the NUC enterprise – considered one of a number of strategic shuffles made by Intel up to now couple of years that has seen the corporate exit a lot of its non-core companies. With Intel doubling down on chip design and fabrication, these enterprise models have often been offered to different events, resembling Intel’s SSD/NAND enterprise (now Solidigm/SK hynix) and Intel’s pre-built server enterprise (now MiTAC).
Below the phrases of the proposed deal, ASUS will kind a brand new enterprise unit known as ASUS NUC, which can be capable to produce and promote Intel’s tenth via thirteenth era NUC PCs, in addition to rights to develop future NUC designs. The deal additionally obligates ASUS to supply help for the platform, with Intel and ASUS each reiterating the significance of continued help (and enterprise continuity) of the platform.
Curiously, the deal is explicitly nonexclusive; so regardless of ASUS being set as much as be Intel’s successor within the NUC area, ASUS is not essentially getting the NUC market to itself – although Intel is not asserting another licensees right now, both. The restricted particulars on the deal additionally don’t point out ASUS taking over any staff from Intel’s current NUC group, so it appears this is not going to be a wholesale enterprise unit switch like different models resembling SSDs have been.
In any case, licensing Intel’s NUC enterprise ought to vastly strengthen ASUS’s place throughout the compact PC market. Even with their huge engineering assets and a broad lineup of merchandise, ASUS has solely provided a restricted vary of NUC-sized PC merchandise. The corporate presently provides its PN and PB sequence of mini-PCs, together with some ExpertCenter desktop fashions that match within the SFF class. The PN sequence might be termed as clones of the mainstream NUCs, and ASUS has all kinds of notebooks that in all probability render the NUC Laptop computer Kits irrelevant. Nevertheless, ASUS presently would not have equivalents of the NUC Fanatic and NUC Excessive fashions or the NUC Compute Components.
Finally, these NUC merchandise will probably be complementary to ASUS’s present lineup of mini-PCs and SFF techniques, permitting ASUS to develop its general footprint within the compact PC area. The deal can be a win for the present NUC ecosystem, as present customers are assured of help and warranties will proceed to get honored.
The PN Mini-PC Collection – NUC Mainstream’s ASUS Avatar
Trying ahead, there’s loads of scope for continued innovation within the NUC area below ASUS. For instance, permitting USB-C PD to energy the NUCs, and even PoE help for the NUCs focusing on industrial purposes, are low-hanging fruits. ASUS might be among the many few corporations on this planet that may afford to proceed to innovate whereas working the present program at scale.
One massive query is who will probably be producing current and future NUCs. Intel outsourced no less than a few of its NUCs to 3rd events like ECS and Pegatron below OEM offers, which is a traditional apply. Against this, ASUS outsources a good portion of its manufacturing to Pegatron, its daughter firm. We have no idea who precisely produces the tenth – 13th Gen. NUCs for Intel in the intervening time, but when it’s not Pegatron, it stays to be seen whether or not ASUS will proceed to order techniques from the present provider, or will attempt to switch manufacturing to its traditional manufacturing accomplice.
