There's tension bubbling under the surface of the tech industry as the two, soon to be three, graphics card companies prepare to unleash a series of products into, let’s face it, a pretty uncertain market. With Nvidia revealing its entry-level RTX 3050 and AMD also getting ready to release its own budget GPU, it's seemingly left up to Intel to bring a fresh face to the arena, which it will be doing with its upcoming Arc "Alchemist" graphics card. Unfortunately, there's a chance this may be delayed somewhat.

According to an eagle-eyed report from Videocardz, there has been a very sly change on the Intel website which hints that the company may not be able to make its originally intended deadline for its upcoming GPU. A side-by-side comparison of some of the details show that "Q1" has been removed, with the graphics card now said to be simply "coming 2022." Understandably, many will extrapolate from this and come to the conclusion that "team blue" won't be able to get Alchemist out the door in time for the first quarter of this year.

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It is a subtle change, admittedly, but it does seem to speak volumes. There hasn't been any official word from the company about whether this means delays, but given how excited Intel seems to be about its upcoming Arc product, and a supposed "new era" that's about to be ushered in, having to delay it would be disheartening. While it's possible the change could have been accidental, the report goes on to say that Q1 was removed in other parts of the page as well, suggesting this was intentional.

Screenshot from Intel website showing the word "Q1" has been removed.

The latest development before this was that the Intel Arc Alchemist was heading for a March 2022 release, which would put it right at the end of Q1 and right where it wanted it to be. What the change in the website means is open to interpretation. If there is a delay to the GPU, it would certainly be in the company's best interest to get its first products out the door at least in early Q2. But it's hard to say what's happening at team blue at the moment.

With Intel itself saying that the ongoing chip shortage could last until 2023, many may be pondering what things will look like when all three tech giants start hurling products out the factories hither and thither. There's going to be a lot more competition over the next twelve months, and a lot more choice for consumers, but if there are going to be delays and short supplies, then it's ultimately the users who are going to be missing out in the long run.

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Source: Videocardz