It was my understanding that the advantage of Intel's compiler is that it would optimize for the strengths available on newer processors while still allowing it to work on older processors (for example, using AVX instructions if available and a slower branch if not) [aka, the "CPU dispatcher"]. Agner wrote about it "crippling" AMD processors because they didn't say they were "GenuineIntel" back in 2009.[0]
The main reason it's slow is that it does a lot of analysis, even at -O1.