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Intel Board, After Review, Insists on Token Changes

Intel Corp. said it will halt spending on new fab and facility expansion programs in Poland and Germany temporarily and establish a separate board of directors for its foundry operations in continuation of its reorganization plans and as part of efforts to revitalize the business.

The company also intends to conduct an initial public offering for Altera, the FPGA business it acquired years ago, and sell some of its shares in the business in an operation similar to the floating of Mobileye, the advanced driver-assistance systems and autonomous driving division.

The details, laid out in a message to employees but which was simultaneously sent out as a press statement from CEO Patrick Gelsinger, included many of the actions observers said the company was likely to take following news the board of directors had held a special meeting last week. Some observers were expecting Intel to split into separate independent businesses.

Read More »Intel Board, After Review, Insists on Token Changes

Intel Drops Tower Deal as China Withholds Approval

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake:
Intel’s goal for itself in the foundry business has suffered a setback with China’s rejection of the Tower Semiconductor acquisition. It is a deep wound that should have been anticipated. Now that the inevitable has happened, the question arises: what was Intel’s fallback plan for gaining the edge it had sought from the Tower offer?

Intel Corp. says its acquisition plans for Tower Semiconductor have been cancelled.

Read More »Intel Drops Tower Deal as China Withholds Approval
RISC-V logo

Big Names in Automotive Go All in on RISC-V 

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
The world’s biggest automotive chip suppliers Robert Bosch, Infineon Technologies, Nordic Semiconductor, NXP Semiconductors, and Qualcomm – have banded together to “invest in a company aimed at advancing the adoption of RISC-V globally by enabling next-generation hardware development.” Why now and what does it mean for the future of Arm.

RISC-V scored a major coup with the announcement that some of the electronics industry’s biggest suppliers of automotive semiconductors have teamed up to set up a joint venture focused on the open standard instruction set architecture.

Infineon Technologies AG, Nordic Semiconductor, NXP Semiconductors, Robert Bosch and Qualcomm said the the JV, based in Germany, would be equally shared among them as a “single source to enable compatible RISC-V based products, provide reference architectures, and help establish industry standards,” according to the group’s spokesperson.

The company will focus initially on automotive applications while apparently leaving room for further expansion into other product areas, including mobile and IoT.  Nonetheless, the announcement’s seismic impact will likely affect, first and foremost, automakers and tier ones.

Read More »Big Names in Automotive Go All in on RISC-V 
Stuart Pann is senior vice president and general manager of Intel Foundry Services

Intel Pans Inward for Foundry Boss; Is Tower Deal in Trouble?

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake:
The executive Intel has appointed to head its foundry division has no experience managing a contract chipmaker. Was Intel tired of waiting for regulators to approve its quest for Tower Semiconductor, the contract chipmaker it was expected to tap for a seasoned general manager?  

Tower Semiconductor Ltd. boss Russell Ellwanger will not be heading Intel Corp.’s foundry services business.

Read More »Intel Pans Inward for Foundry Boss; Is Tower Deal in Trouble?
Foxconn MIH Open EV platform

Ex-CTO of Foxconn’s EV Biz Levels Charges, Forced to Quit

By Judith Cheng

William Wei, who helped Foxconn launch its ambitious EV platform, has sued for wrongful termination two Foxconn executives, current CEO and chairman Young Liu  and HR chief Emily Hsia. Wei, formerly CTO of Foxconn’s EV business, says he was forced to resign and is now seeking compensation of Taiwan dollars $62 million (about US $2.06 million). 

In Wei’s place, Foxconn has hired Jun Seki as Chief Strategy Officer for EV. Seki, a seasoned executive who worked for Nissan Motor and the world’s largest electric motor maker Nidec Corp in Japan, now reports directly to Foxconn chairman and CEO Young Liu.

Read More »Ex-CTO of Foxconn’s EV Biz Levels Charges, Forced to Quit
Cruise in San Francisco

Cruise Gambles on a Build-Your-Own Strategy

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake?
Autonomous vehicle company Cruise confirmed it is dumping Nvidia’s GPU and developing its own central compute engine for its AV. Cruise also said it is developing a chip for its radar and for other custom chips. Unclear is whether such an extreme measure – build instead of buy – will eventually help or hurt the fledgling AV company’s prospects.

Read More »Cruise Gambles on a Build-Your-Own Strategy