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As it faces layoffs and a CPU bug controversy, Intel has postponed its "Innovation" event.
Intel Innovation, one of the company’s biggest gatherings, was originally scheduled for Sept. 24-25 in San Jose, California. But on Thursday, the company began notifying attendees that the event will be pushed back.
“After careful consideration, we have made the decision to postpone our Intel-hosted event, Intel Innovation, in September until 2025,” the company said in a notice on the event’s website.
(Credit: Intel)In a statement, Intel told PCMag: “Given our financial results and outlook for the second half of 2024, which is tougher than previously expected, we are having to make some tough decisions as we continue to align our cost structure and look to assess how we rebuild a sustainable engine of process technology leadership. We express sincere appreciation to our partners, sponsors, exhibitors, developer communities and our larger team who had committed to support and attend the event.”
Last week, the US chipmaker reported it plans to lay off about 15,000 employees to help it control costs, which have ballooned in its push to expand its chip manufacturing and R&D. Intel Innovation looks like another casualty as the company prepares to slash spending in areas including marketing and administrative operations.
Still, delaying the event might hinder Intel’s efforts to promote upcoming desktop and laptop processors, including Arrow Lake and Lunar Lake. That said, the company might simply shift its messaging to IFA, a major consumer electronics show in Berlin going on Sept. 6th to the 10th.
The Innovation event could have also given Intel executives a venue to address its controversial handling of a CPU bug, which can irreversibly damage 13th and 14th Generation Core desktop chips. Although it’s pledged to provide replacement units and release a software patch, Intel has mainly addressed the issue through statements on support pages, forum posts, and emails to the press.
In the meantime, Intel says it's pivoting away from the Innovation event to focus on “current smaller, more targeted events, webinars, hackathons and meetups worldwide through Intel Connection and Intel AI Summit events, as well as a presence at other industry moments.”