This year is not the best for Intel. Over the course of a few months, several events have occurred that are slowly bringing Intel to its knees, forcing management to greatly rethink plans and gather support wherever they can. Coupled with speculation about the end of Samsung’s processor production, the next few months could be quite crucial for the world of processor manufacturers.
The first big problem started at the beginning of this year – or rather at this time Intel began to comment on the problem with the 13th and 14th generations. A few months earlier, however, reports began to appear that the Raptor Lake processors have major stability problems, which in the worst cases end in the failure of the entire processor.
Developers and users on the Internet began to recommend underclocking processors, but it was still not clear where the problem actually was. This began to escalate with the number of dissatisfied customers, motherboard manufacturers began to implement Intel’s recommendations for new boards, but above all they pushed and demanded a replacement as soon as possible. In June of this year, the American giant released a patch with microcode, which did not fix the main problem, but a minor bug that could have contributed to the worsening of the situation.
YouTubers also began to solve the silent killer, who realized that Raptor Lake server processors also suffer from problems, not only high-end desktop units. Intel eventually confirmed that it was a voltage and microcode issue that was sending incorrect requests. As a result, the processor requested from the motherboard short-term “suicide” waves of high voltage, which slowly but irreversibly destroyed the affected processors.
The manufacturer has already issued a patch, but due to hardware intervention, it cannot repair the damage done. However, Intel has extended the warranty for all Raptor Lake processors by two years to a total of five years, so customers are also covered against future defects. But the catch is that there is still no tool to detect if your processor has been affected by this bug. Users can only hope if the damage hasn’t shown up yet, or watch for symptoms and contact Intel support.
This issue, which has been discussed for many months, together with the culmination of the rivalry crisis with TSMC, also had an impact on Intel’s shares, which went steadily down. They experienced the biggest drop at the beginning of August, when financial results that fell short of expectations were published – and predictions for the future also worsened. In response, the competitor Arm even spoke up, in which Intel still had a large stake a few months ago, but was forced to sell it due to financial problems. Arm was then supposed to offer to buy out the processor division, which Intel (so far) has refused. Qualcomm subsequently informally forwarded a similar offer.
Of course, managers must respond to this spiral of problems. In addition to layoffs, optimization of costs and sale of assets, the production division should also become independent from the rest of the company, which would thus be better able to look for financial offers. It was possible to conclude an exclusive contract with the US Army and with Amazon, to which Intel will supply server processors. At the same time, plans to build a factory in Germany were put on hold.
Furthermore, Intel has to invest heavily in research, catching up with its competitors and increasing its production capacity. In addition, the Blue Party secured the support of the US government through the Chips Act, from which it will receive $8.5 billion. Management is also considering accepting an investment offer from Apollo Global Management in the amount of $5 billion, which would follow the sale of part of the ownership of the Irish factory for $11 billion. Of course, there is also the question of how the new Ultra processors will be released. But it is likely that their success or failure will fundamentally affect the future of Intel.
Source: pctuning.cz
