Critical decisions from Intel
Closing the last quarter of last year with a decline, Intel’s first action in the new year was to shelve two important projects. First, the section that produces network switches is closed. Intel, which acquired the Barefoot Networks initiative in 2019, launched Tofino chips for network switches. When the company was not satisfied with the success achieved, it decided to cut the investments. No new model will be added to the Tofino series from now on, but support for existing products will continue.
Secondly, the RISC-V Pathfinder support program, which is still a new project, also suffered from the crisis. The Pathfinder program, which was launched late last year, on how to develop open source RISC-V chips, which is shown as ARM’s biggest competitor, is also being shut down. Intel will no longer offer support for RISC-V developments. Thus ended the RISC-V adventure that Intel hoped to find new customers in the casting field.