Intel Confirms Arc A-Series Graphics Card Delay: Cites Lack of Software Readiness & COVID Lock Downs Impacting Supply Chain
It’s not just one report from yesterday but various other rumors and similar reports from the past several months which had cited Intel’s drivers being problematic & that these were the going to be the main reason behind a potential delay. Well, it looks like Intel has come out and confirmed that Arc A-Series has indeed been delayed from a Q2 launch to a later summer launch. In the blog post published by Lisa, the company rep confirms that while Intel’s entry-level Arc A3 products will be launching in Q2 2022, they will be limited to China-only through system builders and OEMs. The proper DIY roll-out is expected either in late Q2 or early Q3 which will bring these cards to other regions too. This is looking very much like the South Korea exclusive timed launch for the Arc A-Series mobility GPU lineup. Furthermore, the higher-end Intel Arc A7 and A5 gaming graphics cards for desktop PCs will start to roll out worldwide through OEMs and system integrators later this Summer which means late July or mid of August 2022 and that pushes us to Q3 2022. A whole quarter after the initial launch plan for Intel’s Arc A-Series desktop graphics cards. This is the same timeframe when Intel is expected to launch its workstation Arc graphics cards but it looks like since the gaming cards won’t make it to the market till Q3 2022, the workstation cards could either be pushed back to late Q3 or even Q4 2022. Furthermore, all of these delays and driver issues don’t bode well for Intel’s first graphics launch. Plus, if this continues, then Intel could lose potential board partners which would affect the roll-out of their Arc graphics cards further. Overall, this isn’t looking good at all but hopefully, Intel can put forward a better launch timeframe at its ‘VISION’ event which is today followed by more detailed specs and pricing disclosures at Computex 2022 at the end of this month. We have been working closely with OEM partners to get Intel Arc graphics mobile designs fully launched. First was Samsung which started with availability in Korea and is expanding globally. We planned to have broader OEM availability at this point; however, we have had some software readiness delays and, together with COVID lock downs impacting global supply chains, OEM designs are only this month becoming more widely available. Despite the constraints, our OEM partners have announced laptops with Intel Arc 3 graphics – including Samsung, Lenovo, Acer, HP, and Asus – and we are working with our partners to help them get these products into market ASAP. Laptops with Intel Arc 5 and Arc 7 graphics will start becoming available in early summer. Question #2: When are the desktop cards with Intel Arc graphics coming? Unlike notebook designs, desktop systems have a vast set of combinations, including memory, motherboards, and CPUs. To initially limit some of this variation, we will launch working with system builders and OEMs with specific configurations. We will release our entry-level Intel Arc A-series products for desktops (A3) first in China through system builders and OEMs in Q2. Etail and retail component sales will follow shortly in China as well. Proximity to board components and strong demand for entry-level discrete products makes this a natural place to start. Our next step will be to scale these products globally. Roll-out of Intel Arc A5 and A7 desktop cards will start worldwide with OEMs and system integrators later this summer, followed by component sales in worldwide channels. This staggered approach gives us confidence at each step that we can effectively serve our customer base. via Intel
