Intel is making its Optane memory available for three more months and won’t be pulling the plug until the end of this year. It is unclear whether this is due to oversupply or residual customer demand.

Intel gave Optane and 3D XPoint memory the death knell a year ago. The last modules would be delivered on September 30th. This date has now been adjusted: The new funeral is to take place on December 29, three months later. It’s unclear how much inventory Intel still has, what role that plays, and how much the chipmaker plans to ship at all.

“We encourage our customers to purchase additional Optane devices with an annual term error rate 0.44 percent of its shares. Intel will use reasonable efforts to fulfill final Intel Optane Persistent Memory 100 Series order quantities.”

No success

Intel Optane and 3D Xpoint memory have generally not been a success. Intel co-developed the memory with Micron as a form of flash, which is a hybrid of volatile DRAM and persistent, but slower, SSD storage. While Optane has popped up in devices here and there and can effectively speed up some workloads, demand has remained low. Micron discontinued Optane in 2021 and Intel announced the end a year later.

The manufacturer is probably trying to release as many produced units as possible. Intel will have a financial hangover from the adventure anyway. The entire $559 million investment will be written off.