14 DAY TRIAL // Intel is mainly known for its central processors, but it also makes other hardware, most importantly motherboards. This won't last for much longer though, according to some reports.
AnandTech, CNET and HotHardware all have received much the same information as the one we are imparting right now.
By the time Intel's Haswell processor series is ready to sell, the Santa Clara, California-based chip giant will have finished preparations for a withdrawal from the desktop PC motherboard industry.
Last we heard, the Haswell launch was going to happen during Computex 2013, in June, in Taipei, Taiwan.
That means that Chipzilla will stop making mini-ITX, micro-ATX and ATX motherboards by June.
There has also been a lot of talk about future Intel CPU generations foregoing the LGA socket plan altogether.
That means that the processors will be soldered permanently to mainboards developed by OEMs (original equipment manufacturers).
Intel promised that this perceived pro-BGA movement is not real, and that it will keep making socketed, replaceable / upgradeable chips for years to come. Still, that hasn't stopped people from talking.
"The internal talent and experience of twenty years in the boards business...is being redistributed to address emerging new form factors," Intel said, according to CNET.
The possibility to choose one's own CPU, motherboard and other PC components still exists, and should go on existing for years to come.
Nevertheless, Intel won't try to keep the PC market afloat as hard as before. It will keep making CPUs, but there probably won't be anything left of the chip giant's mainboard business three years from now.
On a related note, since “PC” no longer means the same thing it used to, Intel has one extra reason to ease up on its attachment to the current image, so to speak, of what such systems are made of and how.