Nvidia had for years known that it has a massive and growing China problem, yet it persisted in developing products for the country, ignoring America’s apprehensions and warnings. The solution is to exit the country before it is driven out both by China itself and the United States.
Intel’s new CEO used the opportunity of his first major public speech to provide a personal narration of his education, professional background and philosophical drivers.
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake:
Intel is in a precarious position. In sales, it is still one of the biggest semiconductor companies in the industry, but the juxtaposition of its market value with those of rivals tells a dismal story. The recent appointment of Lip-Bu Tan as CEO marked the beginning of a much-needed house-cleaning at Intel. By not extending this exercise to the board of directors, the company is not holding long-term members to account or showing it understands the depth of the rot it must flush out.
Intel Corp. “is at a critical moment in its history,” and is facing “undeniable challenges.”
This critical assessment comes from Frank D. Yeary, chair of Intel’s board of directors. In a lengthy foreword to the company’s latest annual report, Yeary warns that Intel “has been overshadowed at times by our own execution problems and not enough focus on the needs of our customers.” The company, Yeary notes, must focus on “delivering long-term value for shareholders.”
This sounds fine, reading like a text that Intel’s financially bludgeoned investors could have written. Ironically, however, Yeary’s blunt analysis excludes one brutal fact; that Yeary and many of Intel’s long-serving directors have been a deadweight around the company’s neck, failing to provide the leadership it needed at critical moments over the last decade or more.
Read More »Intel Board Shuffle: Another Missed Opportunity
Is the US still the world’s preeminent destination for the best and brightest minds in science, engineering, and technology?
The semiconductor industry must grapple with a stark new reality. The foundation upon which enterprises operate is being weakened and threatened by actions indicating the US government believes it can ignore the law and due process or make them conditional rather than guaranteed.
By Peter Clarke
What’s at stake:
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Lip-Bu Tan coming to save struggling chip giant Intel Corp. But how? Whatever incoming CEO Tan has communicated to Intel employees, the company’s future cannot be business as usual. One possibility is that Tan was asked by the board if he is the CEO to execute on the existing ‘product-plus-foundry’ strategy and he said “Yes.” I doubt it. It is more likely Tan told the board he would only accept the role if he had complete freedom to operate, including the option to divest Intel’s manufacturing operations. Indeed, the fate of Intel’s manufacturing arm may have been decided even before Tan came on-board.
Veteran semiconductor executive Lip-Bu Tan has accepted the position of CEO at Intel Corp and is re-joining the board of directors after a six-month absence.
The highly-regarded Tan now comes back as the permanent CEO to replace Pat Gelsinger, who was ousted in December 2024. The financial markets clearly approved as on the news of Tan’s appointment Intel’s languishing share price popped by 12 percent.
Since the announcement of Tan’s appointment, many observers have picked up on a sentence in Tan’s message to Intel employees. He said: “Together, we will work hard to restore Intel’s position as a world-class products company, establish ourselves as a world-class foundry, and delight our customers like never before.” This has been taken as evidence that the ‘product-plus-foundry’ strategy continues at Intel.
I think that is a naïve reading of the situation. There is other evidence to consider.
Read More »Lip-Bu Tan must split up IntelBy Bolaji Ojo
Intel Corp.’s next CEO will assume office next week, replacing the interim co-CEOs appointed months ago. At the Ojo-Yoshida Report, we welcome the appointment of Lip-Bu Tan, a semiconductor and EDA market veteran, as the new CEO.
We will be rooting for Mr. Tan. We also believe the rest of the industry should be cheering him on and assist in whichever way they can in his efforts to revitalize Intel. Tan has a formidable task ahead of him and he will need the support and goodwill of the entire industry. The support is critical not so that Intel can displace the competition but because the industry thrives best when the competitive environment is robust.
Tan can ensure that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) remains competitive, reliable, and committed to developing the best process technologies and demand-supply management initiatives by making sure Intel Foundry Services (IFS) becomes the first-class contract chipmaker able to slug it out in the market toe-to-toe with the Taiwanese rival.
Here are our 5 Top suggestions for Lip-Bu Tan as he starts at Intel as CEO on Tuesday next week:
Read More »Memo to Intel’s Incoming CEO: Fill the Fabs
Given the escalating complexity of current AI (and other) chips, are we finally witnessing the emergence of “Design for Verification” as a critical engineering imperative for semiconductor companies?
Working with the non-profit Habitat for Humanity, I’ve confirmed that smart home technology can transform affordable housing while promoting self-reliance and community development.
By Bolaji Ojo
Under normal market conditions, the concept of Intel Corp. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., (TSMC) “eyeing potential deals that would break the American chip-making icon in two” as reportedly recently by the Wall Street Journal would be considered a non-starter. A separate report from the New York Times stating Intel is working with “the Trump administration on a plan to turn over the operation of its chip-making plants” to TSMC falls in the same category.
Intel got itself into this funk. We have emptied a dozen barrels of ink reporting and pontificating on how the company got into this mess and what it must do to get out. (See: Intel Needs an Active, Competent Board, not a ‘Savior’ CEO; Intel: It’s Time for the Unthinkable; Intel-Samsung Foundry Union is a Non-Starter; Intel’s Last Hope: Private Equity LBO?; Intel Board, After Review, Insists on Token Changes; Out of Intel, America’s Dream Foundry: Here’s How; Intel’s Crisis Was Predictable. Its Future Isn’t a Mystery, Either; Intel Says it’s Building ‘Two World-Class Companies.’ Meaning, please?.)
For now, the industry can only await Intel’s next move. While we do this, however, there is another problem the industry must stay aware of, and that is the predicament laid upon TSMC – as it expands operations globally and the elevated, unprecedented and unfair expectations and demands that the entire semiconductor industry, OEMs and several national governments have placed on the Taiwanese company.
Read More »In Intel’s Crisis, a Glimpse of TSMC’s Quandary
