As we all know, things are pretty turbulent at Intel these days. Between product problems and mixed financial results, CEO Pat Gelsinger’s ambitious turnaround plan is slow to take effect. We’ve said it many times before, but when an American company struggles to meet its commitments on the stock market, the first thing it does is lay off staff and cut back on marketing. We’ve already talked about the first, but it didn’t take long for the second to arrive: Intel has decided to cancel (or officially postpone) its Intel Innovation event, which was due to take place at the end of September.
Cancellation of the Intel Innovation conference: continuing to cut costs
After careful consideration, we have decided to postpone our Intel event, Intel Innovation in September, until 2025. For the remainder of 2024, we will continue to run smaller, more focused events, webinars, hackathons and meetups around the world via the Intel Connection and Intel AI Summit events, as well as being present at other industry moments.
The financial argument is the main explanation, and Intel makes no secret of this in discussions with PCMag:
Given our financial results and our outlook for the second half of 2024, which is shaping up to be more challenging than expected, we must make some tough decisions as we continue to align our cost structure and seek to evaluate how to rebuild a sustainable engine of process technology leadership. We extend our sincere gratitude to our partners, sponsors, exhibitors, developer communities and extended team who have committed to supporting and attending the event.
Some media were quick to speculate that this might mean that Arrow Lake would be delayed. Indeed, so far Intel’s Innovation events have hosted the launches of Intel’s Alder Lake, Raptor Lake and Meteor Lake processors. But the company was quick to cut short this rumour. This postponement in no way signifies a change in the manufacturer’s roadmap. The official communication on this subject is crystal clear: The postponement of Intel Innovation 2024 will have no impact on the company’s plans for the launch of its Arrow Lake desktop processor. Intel will be making major announcements this autumn and Arrow Lake will be launched this year.
Let’s face it, Arrow Lake is eagerly awaited, especially in its desktop version, to restore the company’s reputation after the ups and downs of its gen 13 & 14.
Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake: announcements at IFA in September
At the same time, Intel has confirmed its presence at IFA, where the official launch of Lunar Lake is expected to take place. However, it seems almost certain that Arrow Lake will be unveiled at the event. We don’t yet know whether there will be any official announcements or whether a ‘closed’ presentation will be made to the press. Nevertheless, the launch is becoming a little more certain for the latter part of 2024.
