Intel 10th Gen Core and Core i9-12900KS enter discontinuation period

The end of 14nm era.

Intel Core i9-12900KS, the fastest Alder Lake desktop processor with 16 cores and clock speeds up to 5.5 GHz, held its position until the company introduced Raptor Lake. The i9-12900KS was soon overshadowed by the i7-13700K, which offered nearly identical specs (5.4 GHz clock speed), and the i9-13900K. The latter featured double the E-cores, increasing the core count to 24 and achieving 5.8 GHz clocks, surpassing the 12900KS.

Intel then launched a successor to the KS Special Edition series with a 24-core, 6.0 GHz CPU, making the i9-12900KS obsolete in the current lineup. Now, two years and three months after its official launch, Intel is starting the discontinuation process for this SKU. While the i9-12900KS is still available and distributors and retailers may continue to take orders, the company will stop fulfilling new orders around January 2025, and by July 2025, the CPU will be officially discontinued.

12900KS discontinuation, Source: Intel

The 12900KS is not the only SKU entering the discontinuation program. Intel is also discontinuing the 10th Gen Core series (“Comet Lake”), which were launched in the second half of 2020. This includes the non-K, entry-level models following the 10th Gen Core K-Series, which were discontinued in late 2023.

Among the discontinued SKUs are 30 models, ranging from entry-level Pentium Gold and Celeron SKUs to Core i3-10100F/10105/10300/10305, Core i5-10400F/10500/10600, as well as entry-level workstation processors such as the Xeon W-1250. You can find the full list below.

With Intel discontinuing the remaining 10th Gen Core series and having already discontinued its 11th Gen Core series “Rocket Lake,” the company is effectively ending its 14nm era on desktops.

As noted by ZDNET, the list of discontinued SKUs includes both boxed versions and those sold on trays. This discontinuation is expected to have minimal impact on sales, as the majority of current shipments focus on the 12th Gen Core “Alder Lake” and AMD Ryzen series. Currently, the 10th Gen Core series represents only 1% of sales in South Korea.

Source: Intel (12900KS) , Intel (10th Gen Core) via ZDNET , @harukaze5179