Just as the "Coffee Debacle" seemed to be behind them, Intel now grapples with the fallout from the Arrow Lake launch, which "didn't go as planned."

For those not in the know, Intel's Arrow Lake launch faced several issues, primarily due to optimisation problems at both the operating system (OS) and BIOS levels. These issues led to unexpected performance degradation, especially in gaming workloads. For example, memory latency was significantly higher than anticipated, reaching 180 nanoseconds instead of the expected 70-80 nanoseconds.

Intel's Vice President of Marketing, Robert Hallock, admitted that the launch didn't meet expectations and described the problems as "self-inflicted wounds". The company is working on a comprehensive update to address these issues, which they hope to release by the end of November or early December 2024

All this has meant that Intel is losing ground to AMD.

While Intel has managed to get some efficiency gains, a "comprehensive update" expected in the next few weeks should address the performance issues more thoroughly. Intel noted that the fix involves a simple "flash the BIOS and update Windows" process.

Wall Street was also worried about reports that Nvidia is poised to enter the PC processor market, a domain Intel has dominated for two decades. The Nvidia chips are expected to be ARM-based and might be available by 2026. More details about these chips are anticipated in 2025, following Qualcomm's loss of its exclusive deal with Arm to make processors for Windows applications. This move could significantly pressure Intel in a market where it was once the undisputed leader.