Opinion

Intel Chasing China with Chiplets

Featured, Opinion

What’s at stake:
Intel is way late to the global automotive market. But Intel Auto’s leader is seeking a foothold by worming into China – the world’s fastest growing auto market. Intel’s edge is its ability to design and manufacture chiplets. Is this Intel’s chance to finally crack a non-PC market, or is it just another “best-laid plan”?

When Jack Weast, Intel Fellow, was newly appointed to lead Intel’s relaunched Automotive unit and moved to China this year, I wasn’t the only one surprised.

So were Intel’s competitors and Chinese OEMs.

At first blush, this is a Hail Mary, Intel trying at the last minute to score a sliver of the growing global automotive market. In particular, Intel Auto is targeting Chinese EV makers who have been advancing their technologies at a break-neck speed, These developments in China, Intel firmly believes, will inevitably influence the auto industry everywhere.

Uncharacteristically, Intel is proceeding with a sense of urgency and an almost startup-like mentality.

Of course, there are pundits with misgivings. They wonder if the Santa Clara, Calif.-based giant jumped the gun, with little regard to the worsening tensions between the United States and China.

Lies, Damn Lies, and Waymo Statistics

Featured, Opinion

If the name of the game is saving lives on public roads, should we keep our hopes up by leaning on Waymo to achieve that goal?

Sehat Sutardja: Dedicated to Ideas

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Marvell’s co-founder remained a hands-on engineer at heart while running the enterprise and devised a new interconnect technology called MoChi, a building block of what we now know as “chiplets.”

Out of Intel, America’s Dream Foundry: Here’s How

Featured, Opinion

By Bolaji Ojo

The United States wants a semiconductor foundry that can rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC), the world’s No. 1 contract chipmaker.

Many industry executives have lined up behind this objective, considering it a worthy pursuit during a time of rapidly evolving geo-political changes and supply chain turmoil. We agree.

However, after reviewing events of the last several years, the editors of the Ojo-Yoshida Report are convinced that America must go back to the drawing board – and to Intel Corp. – if the creation of America’s world-class foundry is to become more than a wishful thinking.

Intel’s Crisis Was Predictable. Its Future Isn’t a Mystery, Either

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By Bolaji Ojo

Three years ago, Patrick Gelsinger rode in on a charger to save Intel Corp. He should have been on a fighter jet.

The battlefield and combatants had changed since Gelsinger left Intel 10 years earlier in 2009. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) were on his radar, but the main threat was coming from a different source. While Gelsinger was focusing on process technology leadership, Nvidia Corp. with its GPU-CPU combo had invaded and taken over Intel’s lucrative server business.

Gelsinger meant well, but in aiming to restore Intel’s old “glory” with new fabs and billions of dollars in fresh capital expenditure spending, he made a classic mistake that turnaround specialists know well to avoid: attempting the restoration of a storied enterprise is a recipe for further disaster.

Intel: The Beginning of the End?

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By Peter Clarke

What’s at stake:
The break-up of the decades-long leader of the semiconductor industry would likely cause dramatic shifts in the semiconductor landscape. It would not only dent U.S. pride but could also undermine certain aspects of the American government’s technology policy and its CHIPS and Science Act.

The signs are mounting up that chip giant Intel Corp. is not long for this world – at least not in the form familiar to most industry observers.

Intel is now considering its strategic options, including splitting its product and chip manufacturing businesses, a potential sell-off, and whether certain factory projects might need to be delayed or cancelled, according to a Bloomberg report citing unnamed sources “familiar with the matter.”

‘Don’t Touch Me, You Brute!’

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In the advent of electronic “software defined vehicles” and ultimately robocars, we’re witnessing the demotion of the senses.

The Business of Semiconductor Summit, Explained

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Semiconductors are now ubiquitous in the global economy. Their role will only expand, which means it is time to take seriously discussions about the business of semiconductor.

Tenstorrent’s Not-So-Secret AI Plan: ‘Don’t Compete with Nvidia’

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By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
Startup survival hinges on Rule One: Never run out of money. Whether Cerebra, Tenstorrent, Groq or SambaNova, every AI chip startup faces the underdog challenge of keeping up the money flow in a market where Nvidia calls most of the shots.

Tout the unique architecture of your AI processor/accelerator. Check. Trot out your all-star engineering team. Check. Chart your product roadmap and mark the milestones. Check.

Now, explain a credible strategy for competing toe-to-toe against Goliath and the Philistines … er, Nvidia? Investors and developers want to know.

TSMC’s ‘Invaluable’ Status Makes it a Target. Change, it Must

Featured, Opinion

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake

TSMC’s founders and the government of Taiwan didn’t plan on it becoming such a linchpin in electronic production but now that it has become the world’s No. 1 foundry, the role comes with responsibilities beyond the island’s geographic borders. Is the contract chipmaker willing and ready to shoulder the burdens that governments at home and abroad, customers and the entire semiconductor industry have placed on it?

In market capitalization, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) is a distant second to customer Nvidia Corp., the world’s most valuable chipmaker.

Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang is on record for admitting his company – without the services provided by TSMC – would either not exist or be a completely different enterprise playing a much smaller role in the electronics value chain.

Not everyone in the electronics market would so bluntly state their reliance on the Hsinchu, Taiwan-based foundry. Apple Inc., the foundry’s biggest and perhaps most important customer accounting for about one-quarter of TSMC’s annual revenue, hardly talks about the supplier it relies upon for the majority of its semiconductor requirements.

The technology world may not admit this reality to themselves, but one company – TSMC – has become its most “invaluable” asset. TSMC is redefining how the industry operates and, in some ways, even its future. This is a fact the industry struggles with, hesitant to openly discuss what could turn into its biggest headache if a major disaster happens in Taiwan or if governments clash over the island’s future.