Intel Reportedly Wants to Sell Its Sports Tech Business

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It includes True View, which is in several NFL stadiums.

Intel's TrueView cameras, diagrammed.
(Image credit: Intel)

Intel is considering selling off its sports technology group, which works on projects like the True View cameras that create 360-degree video in more than 19 NFL stadiums for broadcasters. Sportico reported the news based on "multiple people familiar with the matter."

True View is the Intel Sports Group's primary project, with cameras installed in 20 NFL team's home stadiums. (The Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams share SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.) The technology is also in eight NBA home stadiums and more than 10 soccer stadiums globally.  It uses multiple cameras to create replay from volumetric data, showing it from numerous angles or perspectives.

Intel "declined to comment on rumors and speculations" to Sportico. The chipmaker has reportedly retained the investment bank PJT Partners to help explore the sale, possibly to other tech firms, media companies or special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs.

The Sports Group, formed in 2016, was focused around Intel's acquisition of the Replay Technologies' video tech and Voke, a video start-up.

In November, Intel shuttered Intel Studios, which was dedicated to volumetric capture with a 10,000 square-foot stage in Los Angeles with more than one hundred 8K cameras.

At the time, the company told Protocol that sports would be the driving force behind the technology, stating that "[w]e believe that the future of sports content will be driven by volumetric technology, which enables us to produce all-encompassing experiences across viewing platforms."

But with a new CEO, it appears Intel is starting to focus more on its core products, which means selling off the impressive, expensive technology it has built up in other sectors.

Andrew E. Freedman
Andrew E. Freedman

Andrew E. Freedman is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on laptops, desktops and gaming. He also keeps up with the latest news. A lover of all things gaming and tech, his previous work has shown up in Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, Kotaku, PCMag and Complex, among others. Follow him on Threads @FreedmanAE and Mastodon @FreedmanAE.mastodon.social.

4 Comments Comment from the forums
  • InvalidError
    A motion capture studio sounds like a great place to work on AI vision. Guess Intel must be done with what research it could be bothered to do under studio conditions.
    Reply
  • watzupken
    I feel the new CEO is making a terrible mistake shedding products that are doing well. I may be wrong, but while its good to focus on core products, previous CEOs are trying to diversify their portfolios so that they don't become too dependent on just a few core income streams. Popularity for desktop and laptops have been in decline for many years, and that trend only reversed largely because of COVID 19 resulting in a mad rush for PCs and chips. PC segment have been gradually losing market share to mobile devices like smartphones and tablets and will likely continue that decline when things "normalise" over the years. Not to mention Intel is facing very stiff competition from ARM and AMD in almost every segment of their core business, which likely resulted in their revenue taking a steep drop when almost every chip making company are reporting record profit/ revenue.
    Reply
  • Co BIY
    watzupken said:
    I may be wrong, but while its good to focus on core products, previous CEOs are trying to diversify their portfolios so that they don't become too dependent on just a few core income streams.

    I think the previous CEOs were trying to create more demand for the whole "large-compute space/ high-tech future". This makes sense when your monopolistic/dominant company will reap most of the rewards. When you are in a highly competitive market it doesn't make sense to cheerlead for the whole industry anymore. Even if successful your competitors are as likely to get the benefit as you.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    Co BIY said:
    When you are in a highly competitive market it doesn't make sense to cheerlead for the whole industry anymore. Even if successful your competitors are as likely to get the benefit as you.
    If nobody "cheerleads" new tech then demand will slow down since people/companies have more limited need for more processing power. Intel's competitors don't necessarily benefit that much since I bet Intel used a fair amount of proprietary stuff like Xeon Scalable's SDI that you could only get from Intel if you wanted to have your own studio based on Intel's capture tech.
    Reply