Intel has been investing in RISC-V in recent years. For example, they joined the RISC-V International Foundation last year. Its Mobileye also launched the EyeQ Ultra chip based on RISC-V. In August last year, Intel also launched the Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V projects.

Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V is an integrated development environment (IDE) that enables SoC architects and system software developers to create their own products using various RISC-V cores and intellectual property (IP) from the partner ecosystem, in FPGA and analog instantiated on the server platform, and then run the industry-leading operating system and tool chain in a unified IDE. This makes it easier and faster to assemble and test different combinations of IP in a single environment.

However, in less than half a year, Intel recently announced on its official website that they will stop developing Intel Pathfinder.

We regret to inform you that Intel is discontinuing the Intel Pathfinder program for RISC-V with immediate effect.

Since Intel will not be providing any additional releases or bug fixes, we encourage you to promptly transition to third-party RISC-V software tools that best meet your development needs.

Last week, Intel announced its financial report for the fourth quarter of 2022 and the full year of 2022. The financial report showed that Intel’s revenue in the fourth quarter was US$14 billion, a sharp drop of 32% compared with the same period last year, setting the lowest quarterly revenue since 2016; And Intel’s annual revenue was 63.1 billion US dollars, down 20% compared with the same period last year. After the financial report was released, Intel’s stock price plummeted, and its market value evaporated by more than 50 billion yuan. Days before the earnings release, Omar Ishrak also resigned as chairman of Intel’s board of directors.

In view of such market performance and the decision to stop developing Intel Pathfinder, Intel may focus its resources on its core business and more profitable businesses in the future, and will no longer invest in projects that have no short-term returns. Intel Pathfinder seems to be a victim of Intel’s poor market performance, which has also raised concerns about whether Intel will continue to invest in RISC-V-related project development.