Pat Gelsinger on stage delivering his keynote at Intel Foundry event on Feb. 22, 2024 (Image: Intel)
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake:
Is Intel intentionally dropping hints that it is heading towards setting up its foundry operation as a standalone business? Its products group is being primed to be a fabless chipmaker says CEO Patrick Gelsinger who adds he is building “two world-class companies.” Yet Gelsinger insists the current corporate structure will not be changed. Where exactly is Intel headed? An independent Intel Foundry Services will light a fire under market leaders Samsung and TSMC, shake up the supply chain and rebalance global chip production but is this the future for Intel? If so, is the chip market ready for another major, pureplay Foundry?
Intel Corp.’s massive challenges and the efforts of its recent leaders to thread their way back to growth have become the subject of MBA studies.
Additional fodder for business school forensic examination of Intel cropped up last week in CEO Patrick Gelsinger’s subtle but intriguing hints about the chipmaker’s future.
After repeatedly insisting that the microprocessor supplier’s revitalization plans do not include a breakup, Gelsinger last week said: “We’re building two world-class companies,” referring to the company’s products group and Intel Foundry Services, the unit created to provide outsourced semiconductor manufacturing services to other chipmakers.
To further deepen the mystery, Gelsinger said his goal is to turn the company’s products group into a “world-class fabless company.” Will these two entities co-exist under the same stable or will they separate and fashion their separate futures as independent entities?