In a somewhat unexpected move, Intel today “retired” its Intel Developer Forum (IDF) conference. The microprocessor giant has typically launched major new product releases at the event, which was held annually in San Francisco.

“Intel has evolved its event portfolio and decided to retire the IDF program moving forward,” a statement on the Intel website explains. “Thank you for nearly 20 great years with the Intel Developer Forum! Intel has a number of resources available on intel.com, including a Resource and Design Center with documentation, software, and tools for designers, engineers, and developers. As always, our customers, partners, and developers should reach out to their Intel representative with questions.”

Intel was known to be rethinking how it handled IDF—it had previously canceled a China-based version of the show and said it was “making changes” to the US event, which would “have a new format.” But the firm apparently decided that that “new format” would be virtual.

Regardless, the move comes at an odd time for Intel, which is seeing increased competition from mobile platforms like ARM and chipset designers such as Qualcomm.

I’m now curious to see whether Microsoft, which has suffered from the same competitive issues as Intel, will scale back its own developer efforts. But so far, that has not been the case. Indeed, Microsoft recently brought its WinHEC trade shows back from the dead and now holds those events in China, near hardware manufacturers.

A report in Anandtech suggests, however, that Intel is simply reacting to changing market conditions in a way that makes sense for that company. “Intel has been changing rapidly over the last two-to-three years, especially as they are changing from a PC-centric company to a data-centric company,” the report notes. “As a result, the decision has been made to find new ways to communicate with the audience (media, developers, and companies) and the ecosystem with targeted events.”

Perhaps Intel could have communicated that information to everyone itself. This company seems lost lately.

Tagged with Intel