Incoming Intel CEO demands better chips than 'lifestyle company in Cupertino'

Intel's new CEO Pat Gelsinger is making some big promises as he prepares to start work at the company, targeting Apple directly from the start.

Intel has seen years of problems with its chip manufacturing business — essentially recycling the same processor with improved clock speeds or different heat management options. The previously dominant processor giant is slipping behind competitors rapidly, and the new CEO hopes the company can change course soon.

"We have to deliver better products to the PC ecosystem than any possible thing that a lifestyle company in Cupertino" makes, Gelsinger told employees. "We have to be that good, in the future."

This statement is a strong one coming from the oncoming CEO. The promise of beating Apple at designing powerful processors is a tall order given how well the M1 processor has performed. Apple has only just begun its transition from Intel to Apple Silicon and further refinements will only boost speed and power efficiency.

The Oregon-based company has to make a decision soon if it will continue chip manufacturing in the hopes to finally overcome the 7nm process, or to sell off its chip foundries and outsource its chip manufacturing to other companies. Oregon Live says the company will announce a decision by the time fourth-quarter earnings are released.

Giving up on chip fabrication would have enormous consequences for the company and its employees. Intel employs 21,000 Oregonians and spends billions of dollars every year on its factories. Intel's pipeline is already set until 2022, so it must decide if it will begin manufacturing in China in 2023 soon.

Pat Gelsinger has been appointed the new Intel CEO after Bob Swan stepped down. Intel has recently previewed a new processor dubbed "Alder Lake" using the aging 10nm process.

79 Comments

anantksundaram 20390 comments · 18 Years

About 3 years ago

Without 'lifestyle companies' this guy (and his new employer) won't have a damn business to run.

Such condescending pap.

[Deleted User] 0 comments · 9 Years

“ The previously dominant processor giant is slipping into obscurity fast, and the new CEO hopes the company can change course soon.”

That is some grade A hyperbole. Intel certainly has some issues and is facing challengers in a way that it hasn’t in some time. That said they are still the dominant player in the processor world and are nowhere near obscurity. Their closest rival, AMD, doesn’t do anywhere close the volume that intel does.

What Apple is doing is largely irrelevant to Intel since Apple doesn’t sell their chips to the broader market. So even though Apple Silicone can out perform Intel it is only relevant to the Apple ecosystem which is just a tiny fraction of the broader chip market.

verne arase 479 comments · 11 Years

Well, Thank God that silicon design has been reduced to executive declaration - all Intel has needed all along was Captain Picard at the helm ordering, "Make it so."

What hubris.

Too bad mutual funds don't allow country or company exclusions - I'd really like to insure Intel or China-based companies aren't included in my portfolio.

While I can see his point - that a processor manufacturer whose business model focuses exclusively on making processors should produce better processors than a lifestyle company in Cupertino - achieving that goal may be a tad harder than he realizes.

rotateleftbyte 1630 comments · 12 Years

lifestyle company in Cupertino

I guess that even saying the word 'Apple' sticks in his throat so much that he has to resort to words like this. Shame really. Intel has needed a kick in the you know what's for years and the M1 is just the latest in a pretty long line of warning shots that have finally struck the bullseye. AMD is better positioned to make a very powerful X86/64 SOC than Intel largely because of their GPU work. That must really gall.

fordee 31 comments · 9 Years

Happy_Noodle_Boy said:

“ The previously dominant processor giant is slipping into obscurity fast, and the new CEO hopes the company can change course soon.”

That is some grade A hyperbole. Intel certainly has some issues and is facing challengers in a way that it hasn’t in some time. That said they are still the dominant player in the processor world and are nowhere near obscurity. Their closest rival, AMD, doesn’t do anywhere close the volume that intel does.

What Apple is doing is largely irrelevant to Intel since Apple doesn’t sell their chips to the broader market. So even though Apple Silicone can out perform Intel it is only relevant to the Apple ecosystem which is just a tiny fraction of the broader chip market.

While other chip manufacturers have been able to steadily lower the feature size from 10nm to 7nm to 5nm, Intel have been postponing the move to 7nm for years. Their processors have been power hungry behemoths, with little increases in performance or power efficiency.

If Windows makes a serious effort to move to ARM and have similar results as Apple, then the x86 ISA is dead and Intel aren’t relevant anymore.

Intel are in big trouble.