This was my take on it: https://honeypot.net/2021/07/29/the-itanic-has.html

Key relevant quote:

> In 1994, Intel and HP looked around and saw a wide variety of successful server CPU architectures like Alpha, MIPS, SPARC, and POWER. This annoyed them and they decided to make a new CPU that no one would want to use.

True. But it’s a technological representation of all that’s wrong with the industry.

Absolutely. This monstrosity managed to have all what was wrong with CISC and all of the disadvantages of RISC at a higher price point than anything on the market at the time.