Intel is pulling the plug on efforts to get its x86 processors into televisions after failing to claim viable market share.
Indeed, Santa Clara will continue to supply chips to TV set- top box makers – but is currently shifting resources to its tablet computer group.
“This is a business decision where we’re taking those resources and applying them to corporate priorities,” Intel spokesperson Claudine Mangano told Bloomberg.
According to Mangano, Intel has decided that engineers at its Digital Home Group should spend more time and money focusing on tablets, smartphones and Ultrabooks.
Although Intel managed to clinch lucrative set-top box deals with Comcast, European providers and Google (Google TV), Atom chips have yet to spark significant growth outside the traditional PC market.
“It’s never been big enough to be a footnote even in their earnings statements,” Cody Acree, a Dallas-based analyst at Williams Financial Group, told Bloomberg.
Acree also noted Intel failed to offer Samsung and Sony a chip that boasted “significantly different” performance compared to rival offerings.
Intel’s decision to abandon the television market means the corporation has essentially forfeited the lucrative space to rival ARM and its low-sipping RISC processors.
