Why Intel discontinued its Bitcoin mining chip series?
Probably because it is becoming too expensive or less possible for them to be a preferred option over their competition. If they could compete, there's no reason why they wouldn't continue catering for the mining market.
Does this affect the price of Bitcoin? This is definitely not good news.
No, it effects the price of mining hardware. Now that Intel has been removed from the miner chip market, other mining chip providers will be able to increase their prices as one less competitor exists in the market. If mining chip value increases, so does mining equipment. If mining equipment increases, the cost to mine does as well. Therefore, miners have higher expenses and must have a higher bitcoin price in order to be able to at least break even on their costs.
This probably won't price into the market right away. I believe it would be priced in when miners are forced to update their equipment and face higher prices for doing so.