Intel Won’t Kill Off Its Graphics Card Business

Despite comments made by erstwhile Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, who sewage ousted from nan institution past month, Intel will not termination disconnected its discrete graphics business. “We are very committed to nan discrete graphics marketplace and will proceed to make strategical investments successful this direction,” Intel’s caller co-CEO Michelle Johnston Holthaus conscionable told an assemblage successful nan company’s CES 2025 keynote. She says it’s a mobility she gets a lot.

Gelsinger was incredibly blunt connected a caller nett telephone that nan company’s radically different Lunar Lake laptop processors were point of a grounded investigation from a financial perspective, and suggested there’d beryllium “less need” for nan company’s investments successful discrete graphics too: “How are we handling graphics? That is progressively becoming large, integrated graphics capabilities, truthful small petition for discrete graphics successful nan marketplace going forward.”

But weeks later, Intel yet notched its first triumph successful nan discrete GPU abstraction pinch nan Intel Arc B580 graphics card, trading retired of nan money gaming insubstantial astir everywhere.

Now, it’s imaginable Holthaus’ caller relationship is codification for “we’re retreating, but slow and small overtly,” arsenic her wide reside successful this morning’s keynote was exceedingly upbeat contempt Intel’s caller troubles. She too celebrated nan Lunar Lake chip, and called 2024 “the twelvemonth Intel really reasserted ourselves arsenic nan leader successful this AI PC market” connected its capacity and artillery life strengths, moreover though nan company’s conscionable announced Arrow Lake chips, and upcoming Panther Lake chips, are built differently.

(Holthaus reiterated that Panther Lake will motorboat successful nan 2nd half of nan year, and says samples are already shipping to each its awesome customers.)

Intel’s early “strategic investments” could too beryllium successful nan AI abstraction alternatively than gaming ones, akin to really AMD and Nvidia personification refocused their efforts precocious connected nan immense opportunity there.

There is astatine slightest 1 overmuch gaming insubstantial coming soon, though. Holthaus says Intel will motorboat its next, already-announced B570 GPU this adjacent week, a insubstantial which is moreover overmuch money than nan B580.