Intel Arc Alchemist desktop roadmaps leaked, company already misses release target
For the past few weeks, Intel has been busy with its Arc press tour. Intel’s Tom Petersen and Ryan Shrout have revealed and confirmed two desktop GPU models: A750 and A770, including their limited edition designs that should be available to customers at some point in the future. The only problem with this tour is the lack of details: specs, release date and price, these things are clearly missing.
Last week, Intel confirmed that it received the first batch of Arc A750 LE cards for reviewers, these cards are now in internal testing and should be shipping to the tech media soon. But even here, Intel didn’t specify when.
It looks like the Moore’s Law is Dead video may explain why there are so few details about the Arc GPUs. According to leaked internal roadmaps, Intel may be communicating conflicting information about ARC internally and externally, which is only fueling the confusion surrounding the launch of the Alchemist series.
One Month Intel Arc Roadmap, Source: Moore’s Law Is Dead
These slides were allegedly shown a month ago by Intel’s graphics division to other Intel divisions. The roadmap clearly lists all the known SKU names and shows that the AIC (custom dashboard) release was planned for early August. This month and especially this week should be the time for Intel and AIC to ship cards to system integrators.
According to the AIC roadmap covering one SKU specifically (A380), Intel still didn’t know the release date of any of the custom designs just a month ago. What this roadmap confirms is that at least five models were planned, but we already know of two (Gunir and ASRock). The others should be ASUS, MSI and possibly Gigabyte.
Intel Arc Alchemist Desktop AIC Specs, Source: Moore’s Law is dead
Another leaked roadmap slide shows that Intel had plans to release the Arc A770, A750, A580 and A380 to system integrators by the end of July. Neither the OEMs that were supposed to manufacture these cards nor the system integrators have announced systems equipped with these GPUs. So far, the only model seen in pre-built computers is the A380.
Intel Arc Alchemist Desktop Roadmap, Source: Moore’s Law is dead
This slide also mentions “Desktop Launch: The Arc Experience” which was supposedly planned as a global launch event for the Alchemist desktop series. So far, Intel has not confirmed that any such event will take place.
Finally, Intel’s latest roadmaps show confusing messages about the Intel Arc desktop “story” that will be revealed in September. The slide specifically says “not launching,” which could simply be poorly worded roadmap information or actual confirmation of a delay until September.
Intel Arc Alchemist Desktop & Raptor Lake-S Roadmap, Source: Moore’s Law is Dead
MLID also revealed that there are rumors of a possible Alchemist update for laptops. He also noted that there are already issues with Battlemage GPUs. All that considered, there are clearly some serious problems in Intel’s graphics division that are being fueled by poor public messaging and a lack of communication with board partners.
Intel officially in Arc
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said during Q2 2022 earnings that the company would launch the Arc A5 and A7 desktop cards in the third quarter, but no specific timing was mentioned. Arc GPUs are already available through OEMs, but in this case it only refers to mobile series.
For AXG, while we won’t hit our GPU unit goal, we’re still on track to generate over $1 billion in revenue this year. In the second quarter, we began ramping up Intel Arc graphics for laptops and OEMs, including Samsung, Lenovo, Acer, HP and Asus. Supply chain issues related to COVID and our own software readiness challenges led to availability delays that we are still working to overcome.
The Intel Arc A5 and A7 desktop cards will begin shipping in the third quarter. Our energy-efficient blockchain accelerator Blockscale hit a major milestone in Q2 with revenue shipments to our core customers, going from ribbon to shipping in less than a year. We expect to ship millions of units this year, not at our original forecast.
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger Q2 2022 Earnings Call
It should also be noted that the computer systems and accelerated graphics group (AXG) had a bad quarter with an operating loss of more than 507 million. Poor messaging, lagging products and questionable business profitability are met with rumors that even Intel may be evaluating the cancellation of its discrete GPU business, as revealed by Coreteks.
Intel AXG Group Operating Losses Q2 2022, Source: Intel
Source: Moore’s Law is Dead, Wccftech, Coreteks
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