The company said it was "winding down" RealSense and transferring the talent and computer vision tech to efforts that "better support" its core chip businesses. The semiconductor giant will honour existing commitments, but the end is clearly on the horizon.

RealSense team leader, Sagi Ben Moshe, said he was leaving Intel two weeks ago which led to questions about Chipzilla’s commitment to the technology.

For those not in the know, RealSense aimed to make computer vision more flexible and accessible. A company or researcher could buy cameras to aid everything from robot navigation through to facial recognition, and there was even a developer-focused phone.

To be fair, it was never made into a mainstream product, and few customers were buying RealSense cameras in any significant quantities.

CEO Kicking Pat Gelsinger wants Intel to reclaim the chipmaking crown, and that means concentrating its resources on design and manufacturing capabilities. No matter how successful RealSense is, it's a potential distraction from Intel's latest cunning plan.