Vijesti i novosti o Intel procesorima i čipsetima - Stranica 207

The Exiled · 23.12.2024., 16:50

Citiraj:

Intel on the brink of death | Culture rot, product focus flawed, foundry must survive

Citiraj:

Intel’s board is incompetent and its horrible decisions over the decades are going to push it towards death. The decision to fire Pat Gelsinger, put in charge a CFO + career sales and marketing leader, and cut spending on fabs in favor of a renewed focus on x86 is an example of the incompetence that will end Intel. Simply put, the Intel board has escaped blame for over a decade of failures. This decade of failure culminates in the ultimate mistake: dismissing CEO Pat Gelsinger. Gelsinger could have been better as a CEO without a doubt. He is somewhat irrationally optimistic, but that’s what Intel needs. He’s had his fair share of missteps, for example, their current AI strategy is still broken with Gaudi 3 and Falcon Shores meaning Intel will never get much of the GenAI inference or training market. Still, Gelsinger was a qualified candidate who wanted the job. In that respect, he was probably a one-of-one. Today, the board has mostly worse options.

The problems at Intel began with the 10nm node (arguably 14nm). In 2016, TSMC and Intel planned to introduce their 10nm processes into volume production. While TSMC executed on schedule with a lower performing node, Intel pushed an aggressive shrink requiring quadruple patterning, novel Cobalt interconnects, and contact over the active gate. The yield was bad, and the node took three years to fix. By the time Intel shipped 10nm products in volume, TSMC had sold more than half a million N7 wafers and was sampling N5. Intel’s products then suffered because of stagnant process tech. Competitors like AMD had the advantage of TSMC’s fabrication and in many cases better chip designs/architectures. Datacenter market share began to slip, and Intel’s business issues only snowballed.

The story of Intel’s cultural rot goes back to Paul Otellini. Paul and Pat Gelsinger were the front runners for the CEO position. Paul was ultimately chosen due to his ruthless anti-competitive business decisions that locked AMD out of the CPU market and cemented Intel’s role as a monopoly for more than a decade. Paul instituted a policy that involved paying various OEMs and system integrators not to use AMD, which choked out AMD’s revenue, R&D, and fab investments. Dell alone was paid ~$4.3 billion, and this was the only reason Dell was profitable during this period. Intel and the EU are still fighting out this anti-competitive behavior in courts to this day.

Intel had a harsh way of getting things done, but it was a productive culture. Paul Otellini changed this. Technical decisions were pushed aside for political power, and the path forward throughout the company was through power struggles among the various fiefdoms. This cultural rot started under Paul Otellini and continued to decay until Pat Gelsinger arrived. Besides changing the culture, there were also numerous horrible decisions that the board greenlighted such as going on a silly acquisition spree buying completely unrelated firms such as McAfee and not even trying to win the iPhone business even though it was dropped in their lap. The failures getting into mobile and rise of Arm, which we detailed here, is a decision which will forever haunt Intel. Paul’s successor was only worse.

Brian Krzanich was a disaster as CEO. He presided over the 10nm debacle. This mismanagement of the fabs is the single greatest issue the company faced, because that is the core of Intel. Despite this, Krzanich was only fired when an illicit workplace relationship came to light. The board that nominated him included John Donahoe—the CEO who made Nike uncool—along with future chairman Frank Yeary. Books could be written about Brian’s failures as a leader, bad acquisitions, failures in AI, and rotting technical leadership, but the reality was that he was a byproduct of the toxic culture and he accelerated it hugely. He probably goes down as Intel’s worst CEO ever.

Not to be outdone, the 2018 board iteration replaced Krzanich with the first truly non-technical CEO in Intel’s history: Bob Swan. Technically, Paul Otellini was the first non-engineer to lead Intel, but he spent more than 30 years with the company, including his time as a technical advisor to the legendary Andy Grove and leading the microprocessor division. Swan was a professional CFO – Intel was his 10th CFO role – and so process engineering took a backseat to financial engineering. Swan’s Intel spent as much on stock buybacks as it did capital expenditures on fabs over his tenure: more than $36 billion towards buybacks versus $38 billion in Capex. This was malpractice in a capital-intensive industry when the company was bleeding market share and more than two nodes behind its chief rival.

The board is making yet another short-sighted mistake it seems to specialize in. The board is blind, but so are the new co-CEOs, the CFO David Zinsner, and Michelle Johnston Holthaus. Michelle is the former sales marketing and communications lead and chief revenue officer, and Zinsner joined in 2022. Intel needs leadership at this critical time, and this is not the co-CEOs for the job.

No, x86 will not disappear overnight. It is still a large market and potentially a cash cow business. However, the problem is that without Intel’s old manufacturing prowess, Intel’s x86 is no longer competitive with AMD, let alone the Arm-based options. Intel can bite the bullet and take the gross margin hit by outsourcing manufacturing to TSMC. This levels the playing field with AMD but doesn’t solve the issue that Intel cannot out-design AMD. Intel Foundry will need help. Intel will likely be sold off for parts; the board has stated Products are the priority, and Foundry’s greatest champion was just shown the door. The business is a capex black hole: we estimate that, even with highly reduced capacity buildouts, Intel Foundry will need $36.5B just for wafer fab equipment in the next 3 years. Fab shells and other expenses would add another $15-20B+. Intel doesn’t have the cash flow to support this due to the product group’s failings, even with CHIPS Act subsidies.

Izvor: SemiAnalysis

imik · 23.12.2024., 18:15

Joj koje gluposti, da kompanije umiru samo tako danas ne bi pola njih više radilo. Sve su više manje imale takvih problema u prošlosti, neke i većih.

The Exiled · 23.12.2024., 18:22

Nisu gluposti, bojim se, niti je ovaj članak o tome da Intel prestaje postojati, već rezime zadnjih nekoliko desetljeća i svih događaja koji su Intel doveli do trenutne situacije. Ionak smo sve spomenuto u članku već naveliko i naširoko komentirali diljem ove i sličnih tema. Kak god se okrene, Intel je u poprilično nezahvalnoj situaciji i da je riječ o nekoj drugoj firmi, odavno bi bili prepušteni sami sebi. Ovak su državi od tzv. strateške važnosti, pa nemaju straha od umiranja i prestanka postojanja, ali bome ne budu ni ono kaj su nekad bili - glavni igrač u monopolu koji su sami stvorili.

imik · 23.12.2024., 20:46

Opet kažem pogledaj zadnjih 20 godina i hrpa firmi je bila u takvoj situaciji i nisu bili od strateške važnosti.
Još uvijek postoje danas i posluju.

The Exiled · 23.12.2024., 21:14

Intel bude također nastavil poslovati i postojati, ali se za razliku od ostalih (preživjelih) firmi u posljednjih 20 godina, mogu pohvaliti da su se uspjeli dovesti u takvu situaciju praktički bez konkurencije, dok su istovremeno držali 90%+ svih njima bitnih tržišnih segmenata. I to je ujedno razlog zbog čega je Intelova aktualna situacija, iako jako slična AMD-ovoj, zapravo poprilično gora, pošto AMD na rubu propasti nije raspolagal nečim pretjerano vrijednim spomena, dok je Intel imal apsolutno sve, ali Uprava i menandžment su se pobrinuli za ovo kaj ih je snašlo, pa čak i sad kad imaju najbolje (skroz nova chiplet arhitektura i TSMC proizvodni proces), opet nije dovoljno dobro i uspiju sfušati sigurnu stvar.

EDIT:

Citiraj:

Broadcom has no interest in buying Intel: CEO says no one asked

Citiraj:

Intel's market capitalization dropped from around $198 billion in early 2024 to around $87 billion today, which makes the company an interesting acquisition target. Broadcom is certainly one of the companies that is known for making large acquisitions, and given its current focus on custom datacenter processors for AI, it could potentially be interested in taking over. However, its chief executive played down such a possibility citing a lack of Interest from Intel. "[Broadcom has] not been asked [to take over Intel]," said Hock Tan, chief executive of Broadcom, in an interview with the Financial Times. "I can only make a deal if it is actionable. Actionability means someone comes and asks me. Ever since Qualcomm, I learned one thing: no hostile offers." Back in 2018, Broadcom's $142 billion attempt to acquire rival chipmaker Qualcomm through a hostile takeover was stopped by then-President Donald Trump in a rare and extraordinary move.

Earlier this year, we reported that Qualcomm was potentially interested in acquiring Intel, although it ultimately turned out that other reports said the company lost interest in buying Intel with all of its product divisions and manufacturing operations. Just like a merger with Qualcomm, an Intel merger with Broadcom could align with industry megatrends. Broadcom enjoys growing demand for AI processors it designs for clients like Google as well as connectivity solutions in data centers. By contrast, Intel's processors power the vast majority of servers as well as client PCs. Broadcom lacks presence in PCs and does not supply server CPUs. Intel's strength is, of course, its production scale and dominance in client computers. However, Intel is currently struggling to keep its process technologies competitive with TSMC and its processor products competitive with rival AMD. As a result, the appeal of the company is not particularly high at this point, especially because Broadcom has to integrate VMware, a company it acquired for $61 billion in 2022.

Additionally, Broadcom is busy with its bespoke processor business for major high-tech companies, including ByteDance, Google, Meta, and reportedly Apple and OpenAI, which are seeking alternatives to nVidia's processors. Tan described the ongoing investment frenzy in Silicon Valley, where tech giants are rapidly planning AI infrastructure projects for the next three to five years. These firms are constructing massive data centers, such as xAI's Memphis facility with 100,000 Nvidia GPUs and Colossus with up to one million nVidia GPUs, to handle the computing needs of their ambitious AI programs. Tan has predicted that AI projects for Broadcom's clients could require clusters with up to one million processors as demand for computing power to train and run advanced AI systems continues to grow. He emphasized that the scaling principle—more data and processing yielding smarter AI—is driving these investments, despite uncertainty about when or if artificial general intelligence (AGI) will be achieved.

Izvor: Tom's Hardware

Citiraj:

Intel and the IFS dilemma: Stuck between a rock and a hard place – should they attempt to sell Intel Foundry Services

Citiraj:

Intel's Foundry Services (IFS) division is facing low wafer yields and projected cumulative losses exceeding $22 billion through 2027, creating a major dilemma for the company. Selling IFS could provide Intel with around $30 billion, which could help the company focus on improving its core chip-making operations and reduce financial risks. However, selling IFS might hinder Intel's IDM 2.0 strategy and its ability to compete effectively in the semiconductor industry, especially amid favorable government support for domestic manufacturing. Intel finds itself in a tough spot, like a farmer trying to decide whether to keep plowing a stubborn field or cut losses and plant somewhere else.

On one hand, the Intel Foundry Services (IFS) division is a key part of the company’s big vision—restoring its reputation as a leader in both designing and making the world’s most advanced chips. On the other, running IFS has been like trying to fill a leaky bucket: wafer yields are so low, they’re not even half of what’s needed to turn a profit. And the forecast through 2027 doesn’t look much sunnier, with losses piling up faster than crops in a hailstorm. Intel’s 18A is decidedly “Off Track” and it’s a 90 percent certainty they will have near zero 18A revenue in 2025/6 and cumulative losses will exceed $22 Billion in this period. Intel’s struggles with process control and critical dimension (CD) targeting are at the heart of the problem. These aren’t just fancy technical terms—they’re the basics of making chips that actually work well.

Without fixing these issues, Intel is stuck spending a fortune on something that’s not delivering nearly enough back. Staying in the foundry business means putting billions more into a division that’s already losing money. If things don’t turn around soon, IFS could become a hole Intel keeps pouring money into, with no guarantee it’ll ever get it back. Finally, there’s the value question. Even if IFS is worth $30 billion today, selling now could mean leaving a lot of future potential on the table. If Intel can fix its process problems and turn IFS into a profitable operation, it could be worth much more down the line.

Izvor: SemiWiki

The Exiled · 13.01.2025., 01:18

Citiraj:

Intel to spin off RealSense depth camera business by mid-2025 — but it will remain part of the Intel Capital portfolio

Citiraj:

This decision is said to be a strategic move to enhance RealSense's growth potential, not a reaction to Intel's financial challenges. This development follows a rather unsettling period for RealSense. In 2021, Intel announced plans to shut down the division, but then decided to shrink the product lineup and keep the unit operational. RealSense’s future as an independent company signals another significant shift in its story. While independence offers opportunities for innovation and agility, it introduces new challenges. RealSense will need to sustain itself financially without Intel's extensive resources and maintain the confidence of its customers and partners.

Altera officially announces independence from Intel — the company strives to expand FPGA portfolio

Citiraj:

This week, Altera officially raised a flag with its own name near its headquarters in San Jose, California, marking its spinoff from Intel and becoming an independent company. The newly formed company, which remains owned by Intel, will focus on expanding its FPGA offerings with greater flexibility while maintaining a strategic partnership with Intel. Although now independent, Altera intends to maintain a close relationship with Intel Foundry, which will manufacture its chips using competitive production nodes. This collaboration ensures reliable supply chains while also granting Altera the freedom to work with other foundries, enabling it to broaden its manufacturing options and remain competitive. If the company's strategy succeeds, an initial public offering (IPO) could follow. Intel hopes that Altera will be successful as an independent entity, which could enable it to gain some additional cash during the IPO.

Intel Capital next into the chip giant's trebuchet, to be shot as far over the wall as possible

Citiraj:

Stricken silicon giant Intel has decided it doesn’t want to be the sole investor in its venture capital operation, so will spin it out for others to plow money into. The x86 titan today announced the intention to separate Intel Capital, its global venture capital arm, into a standalone fund. Intel will remain an “anchor investor” in the outfit. Intel Capital invests in “companies shaping the future of cloud, devices, frontier, and silicon, the four domains that feed into the future of compute.” That string of corp-speak means its current portfolio includes Kubernetes-native storage startup MinIo, autonomous bus outfit Beep, 3D printing aspirant FABRIC8LABS, electric aircraft company Joby, and infosec ratings outfit SecurityScorecard.

The operation apparently has a strong track record, as it claims it has deployed over $20 billion of capital and “created over $170 billion in market value in the past 10 years alone.” Past investee companies include Red Hat, VMware, and MongoDB, all three of which have gone public and presumably delivered a nice payoff for Intel Capital. Readers may have noticed a theme here, as all investees have the potential to increase demand for Intel’s hardware. Intel doesn’t want that to stop but wants help to fund Intel Capital’s investments. Finding money for the risky-by-nature investments that venture funds pursue must be hard in that climate of cuts and austerity.

To hazard a guess, Intel Capital will pitch its track record of making successful investments and the chance to tap that expertise, and investors will clamber aboard.
Change will come fast to Intel Capital, which will change name and start operating as a standalone entity sometime in the second half of 2025.

Lessons from Intel's First Foundry

The Exiled · 17.01.2025., 19:55

Citiraj:

Report: Intel could face acquisition, units to remain together

Citiraj:

Multiple sources say an unidentified corporation is exploring the complete acquisition of Intel Corporation, according to tech publication SemiAccurate. The report points to an internal memo shared among a small group of top executives at the unnamed firm. A high-level insider confirmed the memo's legitimacy last week, reinforcing speculation that a purchase of Intel may be under serious consideration. SemiAccurate's report indicates that the prospective buyer has enough financial resources to acquire Intel outright, considering the company's current market valuation. Notably, this potential buyer has not been publicly identified in previous discussions about Intel's future, suggesting that planning has occurred behind closed doors. The memo's limited circulation hints that executives treat the proposal cautiously rather than engaging in casual exploratory talks.

Any attempt to purchase Intel would require extensive regulatory review, given the company's role in producing semiconductors for both commercial and government applications. Regulators would likely evaluate issues related to national security, supply chain stability, and competitive impact in the global chip market. While neither Intel nor the unidentified acquirer has issued an official statement on the rumor, we are watching for any signals of formal negotiations. Intel has long been a strategic source of the US semiconductor sector, and its potential ownership change would have to be domestic. If a deal does materialize, it would stand among the largest transactions in the technology field.

Izvor: TechPowerUp

Disco · 18.01.2025., 11:34

A tko ima dovoljno love i interesa za Intel?
nVidia i Apple, pošto nema šanse da će USofA odobriti bilo kojoj nonUS kompaniji da ih kupi u ovo doba skoro pa ''digitalnog'' ratovanja.
Čak više mislim da je Jensen bacio oko jer je Apple bacio sva jaja u ARMovu košaricu, tako da ima kompletnu ponudu kao i Lisa.
I onda zamisliš što bi se tu stvarno moglo desiti, zeleni imaju plavu, a onda imaju lovu i sposobno vodstvo koje bi ovaj put stvarno moglo upogoniti te proizvodne procese i otkantati tajvance....ne želim ni pomisliti što bi se desilo sa cijenama...

The Exiled · 18.01.2025., 13:17

nVidia bi mogla, ali opet i oni idu skroz na svoja custom ARM rješenja, tak da im kupovanje Intela realno ne treba.

TSMC, Samsung, ARM, Broadcom, Qualcomm i AMD su sve već i javno ogradili od interesa za potencijalnu akviziciju.

Iskreno, ne bi me čudilo da je država nekoj firmi (koja god ispadne), odredila da kupe Intel uz sve moguće povlastice i pogodnosti.

EDIT:

Citiraj:

Elon Musk reportedly emerges as a potential Intel buyer, involving Qualcomm & Global Foundries in this blockbuster deal

Huh, u slučaju da ima ikakve istine u ovome, onda lako moguće da od Intela ne ostane ni I kad ovi završe sa svojim mudrolijama.

Disco · Jučer, 07:11

Ajoj, ako on preuzme Intel ide vj sve u kuki. Bogati trol kojem nije bed drobit lovu da bi trolao.

23.12.2024., 18:22	#6183
The Exiled McG Moj komp Datum registracije: Feb 2014 Lokacija: Varaždin Postovi: 7,483	Nisu gluposti, bojim se, niti je ovaj članak o tome da Intel prestaje postojati, već rezime zadnjih nekoliko desetljeća i svih događaja koji su Intel doveli do trenutne situacije. Ionak smo sve spomenuto u članku već naveliko i naširoko komentirali diljem ove i sličnih tema. Kak god se okrene, Intel je u poprilično nezahvalnoj situaciji i da je riječ o nekoj drugoj firmi, odavno bi bili prepušteni sami sebi. Ovak su državi od tzv. strateške važnosti, pa nemaju straha od umiranja i prestanka postojanja, ali bome ne budu ni ono kaj su nekad bili - glavni igrač u monopolu koji su sami stvorili. __________________ AMD Ryzen 9 9950X \| Noctua NH-U12A chromax.black \| MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk Wi-Fi \| 128GB Kingston FURY Beast DDR5-5200 \| 256GB AData SX8200 Pro NVMe \| 2x4TB WD Red Plus \| Fractal Define 7 Compact \| Seasonic GX-750 AMD Ryzen 5 7600 \| Noctua NH-U12A chromax.black \| MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk Wi-Fi \| 128GB Kingston FURY Beast DDR5-5200 \| 256GB AData SX8200 Pro NVMe \| 2x12TB WD Red Plus \| Fractal Define 7 Compact \| eVGA 650 B5 Zadnje izmijenjeno od: The Exiled. 23.12.2024. u 18:38.

18.01.2025., 11:34	#6188
Disco Prvoklasni Krkan Moj komp Datum registracije: Jan 2006 Lokacija: Rijeka Postovi: 4,883	A tko ima dovoljno love i interesa za Intel? nVidia i Apple, pošto nema šanse da će USofA odobriti bilo kojoj nonUS kompaniji da ih kupi u ovo doba skoro pa ''digitalnog'' ratovanja. Čak više mislim da je Jensen bacio oko jer je Apple bacio sva jaja u ARMovu košaricu, tako da ima kompletnu ponudu kao i Lisa. I onda zamisliš što bi se tu stvarno moglo desiti, zeleni imaju plavu, a onda imaju lovu i sposobno vodstvo koje bi ovaj put stvarno moglo upogoniti te proizvodne procese i otkantati tajvance....ne želim ni pomisliti što bi se desilo sa cijenama... __________________ Slobodno me dodajte na PSN

Jučer, 07:11	#6190
Disco Prvoklasni Krkan Moj komp Datum registracije: Jan 2006 Lokacija: Rijeka Postovi: 4,883	Ajoj, ako on preuzme Intel ide vj sve u kuki. Bogati trol kojem nije bed drobit lovu da bi trolao. __________________ Slobodno me dodajte na PSN Zadnje izmijenjeno od: Disco. Jučer u 08:20.

23.12.2024., 18:15	#6182
imik Premium Datum registracije: May 2004 Lokacija: Zagreb Postovi: 626	Joj koje gluposti, da kompanije umiru samo tako danas ne bi pola njih više radilo. Sve su više manje imale takvih problema u prošlosti, neke i većih.

23.12.2024., 20:46	#6184
imik Premium Datum registracije: May 2004 Lokacija: Zagreb Postovi: 626	Opet kažem pogledaj zadnjih 20 godina i hrpa firmi je bila u takvoj situaciji i nisu bili od strateške važnosti. Još uvijek postoje danas i posluju.