Intel has announced it will no longer hold its annual Intel Developer Forum, after almost 20 years of hosting the popular event.
The company said in a short statement on its website that the event has been “retired” with immediate effect, before directing developers to its Resource and Design Centre.
It wrote: “Intel has evolved its event portfolio and decided to retire the IDF program moving forward. Thank you for nearly 20 great years with the Intel Developer Forum.”
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Intel has been shifting its business focus from tradition PCs to other, emerging technologies recently, and this latest move shows it’s doing all it can to branch out.
The annual developer forum was a popular event on the developer calendar, with Intel using it for major announcements.
Previously, IDF has been used for CPU announcements such as Skylake and Kaby Lake, as well as other launches including storage products such as Optane.
Intel’s Skylake processor range was announced at IDF
This year’s event was previously set to take place in San Francisco in August, but will now no longer go ahead according to the company’s website.
The news of IDFs cancellation follows Intel previously announcing the event would not occur in China, though the US version was still expected to go ahead.
An Intel spokesman spoke to AnandTech, with the site reporting: “With the rise of AI, FPGAs, Optane, IoT, wireless comms, automotive, and the other new areas that Intel is moving into, Intel felt that IDF no longer fills the need when it comes to giving out information.”
The spokesman suggested the company will be focusing on “new ways to communicate with the audience,” hinting that there would be more “targeted” events held in the future.
Not having to adhere to a schedule dictated by one large event will allow Intel to make announcements more freely in the future.
That said, developers will likely react to the decision negatively, as they will now need to attend several events to learn how to develop for new platforms, rather than the one big developer forum.
Google is set to hold its own Google I/O event next month, while Apple will soon be gearing up for its Worldwide Developer Conference event in June.
Are you sad to see IDF go? Let us know in the comments.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
