Intel's Desktop Motherboard Business to shutdown within three years

Intel has announced that it will be shutting down its Desktop Motherboard group in the next few years, with the Haswell motherboards being the last of its offerings. The company will still supply chipsets to third parties, but will cease developing its own desktop motherboards once the Haswell launch is over.

Employees working in the group will be transitioned to other areas within the company, working with FFRDs. This marks the end of a two decade era and a change in the market as a whole. The need for Intel to produce its own desktop motherboards has diminished, and in purely business terms, focusing its efforts elsewhere is better for its bottom line.

Product warranties will be supported for their duration despite the eventual shutdown. This comes after an announcement earlier today that the company has rolled out Ivy Bridge processors for the budget market, with a total of three Celeron, four Pentium, and one Core i3 being launched today with a price range of $42 to $117.

Said Intel: "We disclosed internally today that Intel's Desktop Motherboard Business will begin slowly ramping down over the course of the next three years. As Intel gradually ramps down its motherboard business we are ramping up critical areas of the desktop space including integration of innovative solutions for the PC ecosystem such as reference design development, NUC and other areas to be discussed later."

[via Legit Reviews]