Intel Plans ‘Arrow Lake Refresh’ With Faster Clock and New NPU This Year

Intel’s gearing up for another round of desktop chips with a modest performance bump. According to ZDNet Korea, the company plans to launch a refreshed version of its Core Ultra 200S series, called Arrow Lake Refresh, in the second half of 2025.

The update isn’t a major overhaul but rather a clock speed bump and a more capable AI engine. Intel is expected to replace the older NPU 3, the same one used in Meteor Lake, with the newer NPU 4, which was introduced in its Luna Lake mobile processors earlier this year.

While the core count and GPU configuration will stay the same, Intel is said to be increasing the operating clock slightly. The refresh will use the same LGA 1851 socket as the current 200S lineup, meaning no motherboard upgrade is required.

This follows Intel’s earlier attempts to boost 200S performance through firmware updates and a feature called “200S Boost,” which increased memory and SoC tile speeds. Those changes helped improve gaming frame rates by up to 10%, but didn’t do much to regain market share.

As of last week, AMD’s Ryzen processors hold 62% of the domestic PC market, while Intel lags at 38%, according to ConnectWave data cited by ZDNet Korea. Among Intel chips, older 14th-gen Core processors still outsell the newer Ultra 200S lineup.

That’s not all; Intel plans to roll out Nova Lake next year. This desktop chip promises a completely redesigned CPU and GPU. CEO Lip Butan has already confirmed it’s on track for the second half of 2026.