Will Team Blue abandon Intel Arc graphics cards?

• This story comes from YouTuber Moore’s Law.
• Moore’s Law Dies Arc Alchemist GPU may not be fixable, according to reports.
• Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger is allegedly considering cancelling the Arc discrete graphics project.

There’s finally some news on Intel Arc Alchemist’s release date, but it’s not what anybody outside of Nvidia and AMD wanted: Arc Alchemist and Battlemage may be scrapped due to unfixable hardware faults that are crippling their performance, jeopardizing Intel’s whole Arc discrete graphics series.

This story comes from YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead(opens in new tab), and it’s a monster, full of internal politics, animosity, and recriminations within Intel over the company’s graphics unit’s inability to provide the discrete graphics cards that had been promoted for over a year.

Moore’s Law is Dead Reports say the Arc Alchemist GPU has a hardware defect that may not be fixable. The graphics team anticipated a driver patch would cure the vulnerability, but it doesn’t. The hardware challenge may apply to Battlemage. If accurate, this would explain Intel Arc’s strange debut.

Intel Arc graphics has been conducting PR for Arc Alchemist cards that Intel promised investors will ship by the end of the second quarter. We’re in Q3, the cards haven’t debuted, and Intel insiders outside of the graphics unit are unhappy that the team is conducting PR suggesting the cards are ready when they’re not.

On top of that, Intel AIB partners reportedly have difficulty producing Intel Arc cards before the end of July. Moore’s Law is Dead says none of the board partners he’s talked with know what’s happening, and the AIBs are unhappy.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger is allegedly considering cancelling the Arc discrete graphics project. Moore’s Law is Dead highlights Intel’s earnings call this week, when Gelsinger acknowledged the disappointing earnings and said that although the global chip shortage was still an issue, problems of “execution” on Intel’s part also contributed to Q2 earnings falling well short of expectations (opens in new tab).

We haven’t independently corroborated Moore’s Law is Dead’s report. Intel’s AXG head Raja Koduri tweeted this year’s commitment to Arc Alchemist.

Koduri: “We’re dedicated to our plan.” “We’re improving Alchemist. This quarter, expect more upgrades. AXG plans to launch 4 new product lines this year.”

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