One of the most popular topics on the SemiWiki forum is Intel, which I understand. Many of us grew up with Intel, some of us have worked there, and I can say that the vast majority of us want Intel to succeed. The latest Intel PR debacle is the abrupt departure of CEO Pat Gelsinger. To me this confirms the answer to the question, “What is … Read More
Wikipedia … “In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a non-linear system can result in large differences in a later state”. In other words, a butterfly bats its wings in Argentina and the path of an immense tornado in Oklahoma is changed some… Read More
From our book “Mobile Unleashed”, this is the semiconductor history of Apple computer:
Observed in hindsight after the iPhone, the distant struggles of Apple in 1997 seem strange, almost hard to fathom. Had it not been for the shrewd investment in ARM, Apple may have lacked the cash needed to survive its crisis. However,… Read More
The Broadcom bid for Qualcomm is the biggest, boldest semiconductor deal to date. Just when we thought semi M&A was cooling off, this deal is a years worth of deals rolled into one. Not only does this deal upset the current balance between chip suppliers and customers, it would create a giant entity smack in the middle of IOT, AI,… Read More
Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel, announced a $7B investment in Fab 42 in Arizona in the oval office, next to Trump as evidence of a positive reaction to Trump’s new policies.
Alternative fact; Paul Otellini, then Intel’s CEO, made a similar promise about Fab 42 in the company of Obama in 2011, during a visit to Hillsboro,… Read More
It was a year ago that Paul Otellini made his surprise announcement that he was stepping down as CEO of Intel. Soon after, I wrote an article asserting that the only correct choice for his replacement was Nvidia’s CEO Jen Hsun Huang. I went beck to reread what I wroteand I can scarcely say I would change anything I put in the article assuming… Read More
It has been a little over a fortnight since Paul Otellini officially stepped down from the CEO post and yet it seems to be more than a long time gone. Unlike his predecessors, he was not asked to remain on the board and perhaps it is a sign that his complete disengagement from the company was necessary to complete a future strategic engagement.… Read More
Nothing seems to raise the Visceral Ire of Semiwiki readers like the two words: Intel and Foundry. To get maximum steam coming out of the ears make sure you combine the two words in a sentence. Something along the lines like: Intel is Now Going to be a Leader in the Foundry Business. Pause…..Ok catch your breadth and now let’s move on … Read More
The announcement by Intel during their January earnings call that they were going to hike Capex in 2013 over 2012 left many folks scrambling as to the reasons and the what-the hecks? Here was a company that was exiting 2012 with 50% utilization of their advanced 22nm process and yet signaling more building was to come. Furthermore,… Read More
Intel may not know it but they are entering a crises moment due to the announced resignation of Paul Otellini that will not take place until May 2013. A six-month funeral with a 100,000 mourning employees will not calm customers who question whether to stick with the x86 PC roadmap much less the Atom mobile processors. A more dramatic… Read More
