Intel's new CEO: we have to deliver better products than certain "lifestyle company" in...

[nanoguy]

Something to look forward to: Intel rivals have pushed forward with chips manufactured using more advanced process nodes, leaving the company in a difficult situation and scrambling to catch up. With a new Intel veteran in charge, the company might just have a chance of restoring its former glory.

We learned this week that Intel CEO Bob Swan would be stepping down and make way for a new executive at the helm of the troubled silicon giant. He will be succeeded by VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger, who has the perfect background as he previously spent 30 years at Intel and played an instrumental role in delivering the 80486 processor.

According to a report from the Oregonian, the incoming CEO held an all-hands staff meeting this week where he briefed everyone on the company's new direction.

The timing of this move is interesting as the silicon giant has been looking to outsource some of its chip manufacturing to TSMC, which is already producing chips using a 5nm process node and getting ready to move to 3nm as soon as next year.

Gelsinger is only slightly more humble in his discourse than his predecessors. He notes that "we have to deliver better products to the PC ecosystem than any possible thing that a lifestyle company in Cupertino" makes. “When executed well, it has established Intel as a leader in every aspect.” Factories, he said, are “the power and the soul of the company [...] We have to be that good in the future," he added.

Intel's Mobileye division in Israel where the chip giant is working on advanced autonomous driving technology.

Of course, he's referring to Apple, who's been refining its custom Arm silicon for years to a point where it's now set to replace Intel across the board. Last year, the Cupertino giant revealed bold plans of a two-year transition to Apple Silicon for the entire Mac family of products. The first of these is the M1 SoC, which is powering entry level MacBooks and is already showing incredible performance per watt when compared to equivalent offerings from Intel and AMD.

Gelsinger knows he's going to fight an uphill battle against both Apple and AMD, with the former replacing the need for its mobile and workstation CPUs and the later eroding its market share in the gaming and enthusiast markets. Qualcomm is also planning to develop custom silicon for the server and high performance computing -- one of Intel's core strengths -- through strategic acquisitions, putting even more pressure on Intel. Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are also working on custom chips for their specific needs.

A decade ago, it'd have been unfathomable for Intel to give up on chip manufacturing considering its track record. However, the company is facing a new reality where fabless companies including Apple, Qualcomm, MediaTek, Nvidia, and AMD are able to move faster by focusing only on designing better chips.

Later this month, Intel will report its 2020 financial results along with an update on its work towards manufacturing using the 7nm process node. In the meantime, all we're getting are promises that its 11th-gen Rocket Lake-S desktop CPUs are capable of besting AMD's Ryzen 5000 in terms of gaming performance, and that Xe GPUs will only get better as time goes on.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/88309-intel-new-ceo-have-deliver-better-products-than.html

 

[Uncle Al]

Well, at least he understands what it takes to be successful ..... now let's see if he can follow through ...

 

[quadibloc]

Early last year, I would have said that Intel urgently needed to outsource. AMD was producing great products based on TSMC's 7nm node, and Intel's equivalent 10nm node was absent.
But now Intel has their 10nm node ready - although they've had to improve it to get the speed up to desktop standards. And TSMC doesn't seem to have enough capacity even for AMD, or Samsung for Nvidia, so how could either or both of them meet Intel's needs for silicon as well?
Intel can still outsource if it will somehow help, but at this point it's clear that's not going to save the company. It needs to get its fabs working - either that, or inject a huge amount of cash into TSMC so that it can expand its capacity (and wouldn't there be antitrust questions in that case?).

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Intel can't compete with Apple.

Intel should stick to what it does best and focus on making that more affordable: Gaming CPUs.

Good SSD ...the intel 660p was awesome. One of the best 2TB SSD modules you could get for $199.

Integrated graphics.

Build me a laptop for $1000 with Intel graphics and CPU power that can compete with a 3070 on a 1:1 basis for just $1000.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Intel can't compete with Apple.

Intel should stick to what it does best and focus on making that more affordable: Gaming CPUs.

Good SSD ...the intel 660p was awesome. One of the best 2TB SSD modules you could get for $199.

Integrated graphics.

Build me a laptop for $1000 with Intel graphics and CPU power that can compete with a 3070 on a 1:1 basis for just $1000.

What Intel does best is sell server CPUs....

 

[duckofdeath]

This sounds a bit click-baity? If Intel doesn't have a real "next gen" in the pipeline already, they're done. AMD doesn't look like they're waiting around for Intel to catch up.

 

[Dimitrios]

I have followed INTEL and AMD since I was a kid. INTEL made it this far because of dirty business ethics. I worked in sales and a tech at many tech stores. The things I can tell you at STAPLES and BESTBUY in CT and how INTEL wanted us to sell their stuff even when the time AMD was at the top.

The only way to come back in a realistic time frame is too cheat and pull shady business tactics and also start stealing more talent from AMD's side.

So folks sit back and watch INTEL there will be some laughs, some head shaking. INTEL will be back on top but not fast enough to please stock holders.

 

[seeprime]

Intel's problems are a result of earlier making all fabs process exactly the same, instead of upgrading the new fabs to newer designs. Old thinking hurt them, as it got them entrenched in more and more outdated corporate culture. Today, the fill the gap when AMD Ryzens can't be produced in enough volume and are selling at huge premiums of up to 100%. Ryzen 5 3400G lists for $149. The cheapest you can find it easily online is $199. Others are selling it for over $249 to $329, as of earlier today..

 

[Shaitan]

I'm not either an analyst nor a scientist. I'm just a regular guy trying to get the best money can buy. Let's see:
Intel gets you to buy a new motherboard for each CPU; AMD offers the same motherboard for three generations of CPU with AM4.
Intel had huge prices all over the board for every socket CPU, AMD offers more cores for less money.
What should I get? At this point, 5900X wipes the floor with any Intel in the same price range
Oh, I can also buy an x470 and get good performance. So why would I even consider Intel? At this point, they are running hotter CPUs, another motherboard for each CPU, less performance. So no. Nope. I'm sick and tired of the "CPU PLUS MOTHERBOARD" game each time.
Just my 2 cents

 

[bviktor]

Kinda stating the obvious lol.

 

[Shadowboxer]

What Intel does best is sell server CPUs....

Well, I would say they sell their CPUs as part of solution that they manage, Intel don’t sell server CPUs but server solutions. But yeah, no one can offer what Intel can in this space. It makes them so much money that I’m surprised they still sell parts individually with all their shortages.

 

[Loadedaxe]

I think Intel is too little, too late. It happens all the time, companies get complacent because they think they are king, then technology shifts and they are left in an empty office saying "WTF just happened"

People can try and push ARM under the carpet for server and desktop PCs, it is going to happen. A lot faster than Intel thinks!

It already is, it is happening and Intel cant see the forest for the trees.

 

[ypsylon]

It's kind of sad that (new) Intel CEO can only trash-talk.

Both AMD and Apple have strong and exciting products, and don't looking back. Intel has nothing. Nothing because 14 nm (with 75 billion ++) today belongs in a museum. If not for the servers which are in general slower to push new platform at a whim..., but Intel lost sizeable datacenter share anyway now with EPYC just butchering Xeons. Old as a World. First is first and second is nowhere/nobody.

Plus Intel enforced so much hardware waste production with constant changes to the sockets, pin-outs, platforms. Suits them well getting corporate arse kicked.

 

[candle_86]

I think Intel is too little, too late. It happens all the time, companies get complacent because they think they are king, then technology shifts and they are left in an empty office saying "WTF just happened"

People can try and push ARM under the carpet for server and desktop PCs, it is going to happen. A lot faster than Intel thinks!

It already is, it is happening and Intel cant see the forest for the trees.

No gaming isn't going arm, with both consoles on x86 and and continuing to push the envelope on performance there is no near future swap to arm.