Intel is giving up on its AI-powered RealSense cameras

Intel pours more and more of its energy into its main chip business, and it now means allowing some of its work less essential by the road. The Company told CRN in a statement indicating that it was “resetting Realsense and transferring the talent and vision of the Tech computer to” better supporting “efforts. The semiconductor giant will honor existing commitments, but the end is clearly on the horizon.

The questions surfaced on the fate of Realsense after the head of the team, Sagi Ben Moshe, said he was leaving Intel two weeks ago.

Realsense aimed to make the computer vision more flexible and accessible. A company or researcher could buycameras to facilitate robot navigation with facial recognition and even a developer-oriented phone. It was never a really traditional product, however, and the UPS VP Kent Tibbils told CRN that there were few customers purchasing Realsense cameras in significant quantities. It was not really a division of money, even if the work helped the other teams of Intel.

For Intel, there is probably a simpler answer: she wants to cut the ballast. PDG Pat Gelsinger wants Intel retrieves the chipming crown, and it means concentrating its resources on design and manufacturing capabilities. Regardless of the success of Realsense, it is a potential distraction of Intel’s last strategy.