Back in February we speculated that Intel might drop its Optane memory business. In its latest earning release, Intel stated that “in Q2 2022, we initiated the winding down of our Intel Optane memory business.” The earnings report also noted that Intel will take a $559M “Optane memory impairment” charge this quarter. Below is an image of an Optane SSD.
Intel Optane SSD
Intel Marketing Image
In January 2021, intel said that it would quit shipping most of the Optane-based products for consumer applications (e.g. gaming). In March of 2021 Micron, Intel’s former 3D XPoint (the joint project name for Intel’s Optane memory) partner said that it was ceasing development of 3D XPoint and later in the year sold the Lehi Utah plant where it manufactured 3D XPoint for Intel and its own use, to TI.
Intel sold off much of its memory business when it announced back in December 2021 that it was selling its SSD and…
