Why Intel stopped making motherboards
For nearly two decades, Intel was a go-to brand not just for CPUs but also for motherboards. On January 20, 2013, Intel pulled out of the market, ending an era. Here’s why Intel stopped making motherboards.
Intel saw motherboard production as a way to protect its brand identity more than as a profit center. Once the industry had several other companies producing motherboards that met acceptable quality standards, Intel had little reason to stay. The key to understanding Intel’s motherboard business is understanding Intel’s mindset. Intel will introduce products just to sell or protect another product, then leave that market when the product no longer needs that support.
Intel started life as a maker of computer memory, as in RAM. Not CPUs. CPUs literally didn’t exist yet. But after two different companies asked Intel to produce them, Intel agreed to give CPUs a try, mostly because they knew it would make it easier to sell memory. The first desktop computer wasn’t marketed as such, and in the end it didn’t end up using Intel’s CPU, but it wasn’t long before a young computer scientist named Gary Kildall got his hands on the chip. Kildall created the CP/M operating system and that helped popularize early Intel 8-bit CPUs.
Intel quickly moved on to a 16-bit CPU. One of the chips in that new line ended up powering the IBM PC. IBM wanted to ensure it would have a reliable, steady supply of CPUs, so IBM required Intel to license the 8088 to other companies. That way IBM could buy identical chips from someone else or make them themselves if Intel couldn’t supply enough for whatever reason. Intel lined up several alternative sources, including AMD. Yes, AMD started out making Intel CPUs under license, not as a company who cloned Intel’s CPUs.
