Lynnfield CPU and P55 chipset delayed

Intel misses the bus. Get it? That's champagne comedy right there.

The gossips in Taiwan are at it again, this time with claims Intel will delay launching its Lynnfield CPU and P55 chipset until September of this year, if not even later.

Lynnfield and P55 were both set to launch by the end of July, but according to the Taiwanese motherboard makers, delays will now almost certainly ensue due to an Intel inventory glut and, surprise, surprise, the credit crunch.

The real question is, though, is this bad news for Intel or for consumers? Chipzilla will probably let non-IGP P45 and P43 chipsets fizzle out once the P55 hits shelves and pushing back the launch just keeps Core i5/i7 as a premium product while giving the firm a chance to offload its piled up inventory.

On the other hand, a delay would do little for consumer or shareholder confidence and looks shoddy, especially with wicked whispers about possible Larrabee delays making the rounds.

Financially, the delay may do Intel no particular harm, considering the current treacle-like slowness and viscosity of the market, but Intel is also putting its reputation at stake here, and that is sometimes a dangerous game to play.
Intel had better hope and pray it won't have to announce any more embarrassing delays, especially with regard to its Havendale CPU, due out in samples to manufacturers sometime in February and which should begin mass production in September.

Another headache for the chip giant is the delayed transition to DDR3 chipsets, now pushed back to 2010, but in this Intel is joined by AMD, who have also delayed DDR3 adoption due to technical difficulties.