CheckMag | Intel is far from being out and has all it takes to make a comeback
Intel has faced lots of major setbacks over the past 7 years. The seemingly never-ending delays of the 10-nm manufacturing process were the main reason for Intel's woes for years. While Intel was stuck with the 14-nm node, AMD launched its Ryzen series CPUs which were able to outcompete Intel's offerings hamstrung by issues on the manufacturing side.
One of the main reasons why AMD was able to beat Intel with Ryzen was because its partner TSMC offered better manufacturing technology than what Intel had access to.
First, Intel got trounced in the enthusiast desktop space, and then AMD started a major offensive in the laptop segment as AMD's laptop CPUs were more efficient thanks in no small part to TSMC's lead over Intel's foundries.
Another key to Ryzen's success in the desktop segment was AMD's long-term commitment to its AM4 platform. AM4 is still alive and kicking despite being over 7 years old at this point whereas it's normal for Intel to abandon its desktop platforms after around two years.
Because Intel did not support its sockets as long as AMD did, Intel's position in the desktop space was hurt. But, Intel can still come back strong if a couple of things happen.
First, Intel should commit to long-term support for its sockets to entice consumers to stick with Intel when upgrading their CPUs. In addition to offering a good price-to-performance ratio, Intel needs to offer enticing upgrade paths in the desktop space to become competitive again.
Second, Intel needs to redesign its chips for efficiency to become truly competitive in the laptop space and to resolve the issues with silicon degradation which are now plaguing Intel's desktop CPUs. Lunar Lake seems like a step in the right direction, at least in the mobile space.
At the end of the day, Intel needs to stay competitive to stay afloat. If things fall completely apart for Intel, there will be less competition on the market which can't possibly be a good thing for the consumer.
