Intel Dropping Desktop Business for Mobile Designs
If there was any doubt that the steady, persistent slide in PC sales was permanent, Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) confirmed plans to exit the desktop PC motherboard business by 2016, closing up shop on the platform once its Haswell chip launches this summer in favor of circuitry for mobile devices including ultrabooks, tablets and smartphones and emerging designs such as its Next Unit of Computing platform.
For users, it means the days of Intel-branded PC motherboards are numbered, say about 1,100 and counting.
“We disclosed internally today that Intel’s Desktop Motherboard Business will begin slowly ramping down over the course of the next three years,” Intel said. “Intel will stop developing new Desktop boards once the Haswell launch is completed,” the company said.
And, what about all those Intel people working on PC circuit boards, some carrying with them 20 years of boards experience? They’ll be “redistributed to address emerging new form factors,” the chip giant said, meaning no engineers will lose their jobs but will be redeployed to other divisions.
So which board makers can be expected to pick up the slack after Intel halts PC motherboard production? The prospective lineup includes ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI and a few others, according to Intel, which, of course, leads us to what decibel level should we expect from the chip maker’s planned exodus from the desktop PC motherboard business?
At the least, figure the jockeying for position for what remains of the desktop PC platform in three years will be interesting to watch. There’s not much room to argue that Intel’s plan, while not directly dismissing the desktop form factor, certainly isn’t an affirmative nod in that direction. What it does say, however, is that Intel wants to put its considerable heft behind the direction that the market is hurtling, and that’s mobile. New designs, products and form factors that result hold the promise to be far more compelling than admiring the next level in desktop computing.