Intel’s sharpens Its Focus
In February 2021, Pat Gel singer took over the reins as Intel CEO, a job many of us argued he should have many years ago after serving as the company’s first CTO. However, it would appear his experience being CEO at VM Ware has broadened not only his experience, but also his view of the industry. Mr. Gel singer came out of the gates charging. He set out to put Intel back on top in processing and manufacturing leadership. But his aspiration hasn’t stopped there. Mr. Gel singer also seeks to make Intel a leader in graphics, networking, and other technologies. While Intel is just now emerging with a new and more competitive slate of technologies and products, these were well underway before Mr. Gel singer took the reins. Mr. Gel singer has, however, had an impact on the execution and roll out of new products and technologies through changes in both personnel and company culture.
You can see the energy and excitement Mr. Gel singer has brought to Intel. Under Mr. Gel singer, we have seen many industry experts and former Intel employees join the company as part of the new management team. Likewise, Mr. Gel singer immediately started honing Intel’s corporate strategy. The first notable change was the company’s manufacturing strategic, referred to as IDM 2.0. Under IDM 2.0, Intel seeks to have a more balanced manufacturing strategy that leverages both in-house and foundry resources, Intel seeks to regain its
Manufacturing technology leadership, and Intel strives to become one of the semiconductor industry’s leading foundries by leveraging Intel’s leading-edge process and packaging technology, extensive IP portfolio, and new fab. The company has already announced one Greenfield mega manufacturing site in Ohio with two new fab and two new fab at its Co-pilot site in Arizona, as well as upgrades and expansion to existing fab worldwide.
In addition, Intel is prioritizing certain products and technologies, such as graphics, AI, and networking, while maximizing capital and shareholder value, including selling the NAND and SSD business to SK Hines and the intent to take Mobil eye public.
Mr. Gel singer also pushed for a renewed emphasis on collaborating with customers and the developer community. In terms of collaborating with customers, Intel is open to developing custom products, leveraging other processor architectures besides x86, and even allowing customers to leverage individual aspects of its accumulated manufacturing prowess, including semiconductor manufacturing and back end assembly (packaging) and test. Previously, Intel would never allow a foundry customer to use its packaging technology or facilities unless Intel also fabricated the silicon die. Intel is also supporting a broader semiconductor ecosystem, such as its recent Intel Foundry Service IFS investment in the RIC -V architecture and continued support for the Arm architecture. And in terms of developers, Mr. Gel singer quickly instituted new developer conferences called Intel Innovation, which is similar to the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) that he initiated as Intel’s CTO several decades ago.
Qualcomm Grows TAM with New Markets
The other major semiconductor company CEO change was Cristina Amen, becoming CEO of Qualcomm. Having been the President of Qualcomm since 2018, Mr. Am on was a driving force for the company even before becoming CEO. Mr. Am on is very charismatic, and he is extremely excited about technology, which is one reason he has been a prominent spokesman for the company for the past several years. It was clear that Mr. Amen, energetic and driven personality would also become part of the culture at Qualcomm. As President, Mr. Amen was already laying the groundwork for the new company strategy with the acquisition of processor start up Nu via in early 2021 to develop custom Arm-compatible cores for future Qualcomm products. The Nu via founders were the experts that launched Apple’s custom processor and So C development efforts, and that acquired expertise could help power Qualcomm into new markets well beyond mobile.
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