Intel has announced postponing its annual Innovation event, initially scheduled for late September 2025. This decision communicated to participants on Thursday, August 8, comes amidst a growing crisis within the company.
The tech giant has been grappling with several challenges in recent weeks. Last week, Intel released financial results that fell short of shareholder and analyst expectations, leading to a significant drop in market capitalization. This disappointing financial report was followed by the announcement of a large-scale layoff, affecting 15,000 employees.
Adding to the company’s woes, CEO Pat Gelsinger’s recent posts on X (formerly Twitter), which included Bible verses, have been interpreted by some as a sign of the company’s dire situation. These developments have created an atmosphere of uncertainty around Intel’s future prospects.
Furthermore, Intel has been facing technical issues with its 13th and 14th-generation processors, including reports of instability and oxidation problems. These challenges have further eroded confidence in the company’s products.
Given these circumstances, Intel has decided to delay Innovation, one of its flagship annual events, until sometime in 2025. This postponement reflects the company’s need to address its current challenges and potentially realign its strategies before hosting a major industry event.
“After careful consideration, we have made the decision to postpone Intel Innovation until 2025. Through the end of 2024, we will continue to conduct smaller, more targeted events such as webinars, hackathons and meetups around the world with Intel Connection and Intel AI Summit, as well as participating in other industry events,” Intel said in a press release.
Intel reevaluates costs
Intel’s decision to postpone its Innovation event to 2025 has significant implications for its product launch strategy and industry engagement. Traditionally, Innovation has served as a crucial platform for Intel to showcase its upcoming technologies and allow industry professionals, analysts, and developers to experience new products firsthand.
In 2023, for instance, the event provided an opportunity for tech outlets to test Intel’s Meteor Lake processors (later rebranded as Core Ultra) before their official release. This year’s event was expected to feature demonstrations of the next-generation Panther Lake CPUs, slated for a 2025 release, and offer hands-on experiences with the first notebooks powered by Lunar Lake processors, which were scheduled for a September launch.
Despite the postponement of Innovation, the release of the Lunar Lake family, also known as Core Ultra 2, is expected to proceed as planned. However, there are concerns about the impact on promotional efforts for these new processors. Intel has announced that it is “aligning the cost structure,” which includes significant cuts to its marketing department.
