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Three generations across two years with one goal: bringing high-performance handheld gaming to life

At Computex in Taipei, Taiwan, the world got a glimpse into the first handheld gaming device powered by the all-new Intel ® Arc™ G3 Extreme processor.

Created by Taiwan-based MSI , the Claw 8 EX AI+ is now available for sale in an eye-catching “void purple” color exclusive to the device.

But creating an all-new handheld design isn’t like building a laptop.

It took Intel and MSI over two years to conceptualize and design the Claw 8 EX AI+, which incorporates best practices from laptop designs and key learnings from previous generation handhelds. Together, Intel and MSI have crafted a device that’s a fraction of the size and weight of a regular mobile PC

Here are three things you need to know about how Intel ’s top engineers helped MSI to create the Claw 8 EX AI+.

#1: A multi-generational engineering commitment that builds on past learnings

This isn’t the first time Intel and MSI have worked together on a handheld design: MSI ’s previous generations handhelds were based on Intel ® Core Ultra Series 1 (codenamed Meteor Lake) and Intel ® Core Ultra 200V series (codenamed Lunar Lake) processors.

With the Intel ® Arc G-Series processor family, Intel took a different approach by creating a purpose-built SoC optimized for handheld gaming.

“We distilled everything we learnt from the last two generations of handheld designs into a new category of devices that set a new standard for handheld experiences,” explained Nish Neelalojanan, said Intel ’s senior director of Product Management, Client Computing and Physical AI Group.

Neelalojanan explained how past experience guided Intel ’s engineers to remain laser-focused on creating a handheld device that provided the best gaming experience.

To achieve this, engineering teams made use of the unmatched efficiency of Intel Arc G3 Extreme to improve the handheld design and experience.

Elsewhere, software optimizations dramatically increased battery life and ensured the device remains cool to the touch under load for user comfort.

Additionally, Intel collaborated with key software leaders like Microsoft to ensure a seamless gaming experience via Xbox Mode on Windows 11.

The end result?

The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ is the first Intel -based handheld to offer console-like accessibility, while also improving performance by freeing up system resources and precompiling shaders, leading to smoother gameplay.

#2: Striking a fine balance in a tightly enclosed space where “every millimeter counts”

With past handhelds, gamers typically faced a tough decision – prioritize the best gaming performance at the expense of shorter battery life or choose to extend gaming sessions at the expense of performance.

Those binary decisions are a relic of the past.

“I think one of the biggest reasons gamers should choose the new MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ is the incredible performance leap we’re seeing with the new Intel ® Arc™ G3 Extreme platform,” said Joseph Shih, Claw product manager, MSI , explaining how top games like Cyberpunk 2077 now runs up to 37% faster, offer smoother frame rates and faster responsiveness.

Shih credits that huge leap in performance to the close collaboration between Intel and MSI .

“The key challenge in building any handheld is balancing performance, thermals, battery life, and comfort inside a very compact device – where every millimeter counts, as it will affect signal quality and compromise the end-user experience,” said Shih.

“From day one, both teams worked closely on motherboard layout, cooling, and power optimization to find the right balance between performance and efficiency.”

In one example of a close collaboration leading to a positive outcome, engineers decided to place the CPU and the DRAM components on opposite ends of the board to maximize space and optimize thermal efficiency, without affecting performance.

Other handheld designs tend to place these components next to each other to maintain signal strength.

“In a handheld, signal quality is extremely sensitive, so Intel ’s signal simulation and validation support was critical to helping us achieve the right balance of stability, efficiency, and performance in such a compact body,” said Shih.

“What I really appreciated was how closely both teams worked behind the scenes. It genuinely felt like one engineering team focused on building the best possible handheld gaming experience for gamers,” Shih explained.

#3: The first successful power-on, pushes handheld gaming into AAA territory

Bruce Cheng fondly remembers January 2026 – it’s the month the joint Intel - MSI successfully powered on the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ for the first time.

It was the moment that signaled two hard years of shared engineering work had finally paid off.

Cheng, director of Advanced Co-engineering in Intel ’s Customer Client Engineering group says that moment validated that the tough board-level circuitry decisions and hours of discussions with his MSI counterparts were the right bets.

“This was the first sign that the long, hard road made across three generations of handheld design discussions were paying off. It was proof that the performance gains we aspired to achieve were not just theoretical,” said Cheng.

The hard work didn’t end there. In the months to come, Cheng and his team would double down on performance tuning the handheld to where it mattered most – running AAA-games – while also carrying out additional engineering validation to ensure the device met the highest specifications.

That wasn’t all.

The joint team also monitored the dynamics of game titles – especially as gaming trends and preferences shift faster than in the laptop business.

“This learning mindset of continuous feedback loops and openness by both teams to revisit assumptions, make tough decisions and to course correct quickly was critical to our ability to deliver on time,” Cheng explained.

The first of many more handheld designs

While the MSI Claw 8 Extreme AI+ is the world’s first handheld design based on the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip, it won’t be the last.

At Computex Taiwan, Intel revealed more designs from its OEM partners like Acer and OneXPlayer are coming to market soon.

“The Arc G3 family for handheld devices proves we can bring PC-class performance and flexibility to handhelds, while offering smooth immersive gameplay and extended playtime. We’re proud of our collaboration with MSI as our pioneering partner for Intel -powered handhelds and look forward to seeing what the industry does next with Arc G3,” said Neelalojanan.

The Small Print:

Performance varies by use, configuration and other factors. Learn more at intel.com/performanceindex.  Performance results are based on testing as of dates shown in configurations and may not reflect all publicly available updates.  See backup for configuration details.  No product or component can be absolutely secure.

Your costs and results may vary.   Intel technologies may require enabled hardware, software or service activation.

Intel does not control or audit third-party data. You should consult other sources to evaluate accuracy.

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