• Khoi Nguyen (left) and Zach Hill (right), with the fully-assembled 42,000-piece CPU model. • (Credit: Intel Corporation) At CES 2026 in Las Vegas, Intel surprised guests with a new artwork installation built with not 100, not 1,000 but 42,000 LEGO bricks. • The mockup of an actual Intel® Core™Ultra Series 3 (code-named Panther Lake) chip even lights up, thanks to 600+ LEDs and complicated circuitry hidden within its LEGO tiles - mimicking the way a real-life Series 3 processor functions. • Since its big reveal on Jan. • 5 at Intel’s Tech Showcase, it’s been drawing huge crowds that gape at its size and color. • Press Kit:Intel at CES 2026 Cue a sea of phones and the inevitable selfie moment.
Article Summaries:
- At CES 2026, Intel unveiled a 42,000‑brick LEGO model of its new Core Ultra Series 3 (code‑named Panther Lake) processor. Built by Khoi Nguyen and former intern Zach Hill, the mock‑up lights up more than 600 LEDs that represent the CPU, NPU and GPU tiles, and includes hidden circuitry that mimics real‑chip operation. Software written by Michael Larsen reads Windows Task Manager via OpenVINO to drive the LEDs in real time, showing utilization levels. The eye‑catching display, about 8 ft tall and 4 ft wide, drew large crowds and highlighted Intel’s latest processor launch.
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