Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) revealed that it will be closing down its Desktop Motherboard segment within the next few years. The Haswell motherboards will be last offering from the chip-maker. Once the Haswell launch is done, the company will stop creating motherboards for desktops, but will still supply chipsets to third parties. The close of this division will mark the end of a two decade era, which witnessed the rise and fall of desktop computers.
“We disclosed internally today that Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)’s Desktop Motherboard Business will begin slowly ramping down over the course of the next three years. As Intel gradually ramps down its motherboard business we are ramping up critical areas of the desktop space including integration of innovative solutions for the PC ecosystem such as reference design development, NUC and other areas to be discussed later,” said Intel.
Affected employees will be redirected to other divisions within the company, working with FFRDs. The closure will help the chip-maker focus on more important areas as the need for developing motherboards for desktop has diminished. Despite the eventual shutdown, product warranties will be honored till their duration.
The announcement follows an earlier revelation today that the company has launched Ivy Bridge processors for the budget market, with a total of three Celeron, four Pentium, and one Core i3 being launched today, with a price range of $42 to $117.
The company said in a statement “The Desktop segment continues to be a major focus for Intel with hundreds of products across many sub segments and applications. Intel expects the broad and capable DT motherboard ecosystem (i.e. Asus, Gigabyte, MSI and many others) to fully support Intel’s growing roadmap and large worldwide customer base. Intel’s Desktop Motherboard Business will not develop any new Intel branded desktop motherboards after [the] completion of Haswell-based 4th gen Core launch products in 2013 and will continue to support all products sold through the warranty period included with the specific product.”
The announcement from the company confirms an earlier report from ValueWalk regarding the end of Desktop PC’s. “Intel’s upcoming Broadwell processors will be soldered to the motherboard. This could signal the beginning of the end for desktop PC’s, and the end of the consumer market of computer upgrades,” the report said.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) forayed in the desktop motherboard business in 1991 and sold its first commercially available motherboard in 1993. The board, codenamed ‘Batman’ was based on the Baby AT motherboard form factor and used the 430LX chipset for socket 4 processors.
