About 10 years ago, I was in charge of the product definition of our next IP to be released, the PCI Express gen-1 Controller. I was also involved in the decision process to select the new functions to develop, in respect with the market size, all of this being the definition of “marketing”. The reason why our company decided not to develop… Read More
Tag: x86
Intel’s Tale of Two Cities
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
Intel Plays to the 4 Horsemen of the Mobile Software World
Just at the moment we look for the mobile market to consolidate, it fractures along new fault lines as old allies become enemies and new business models appear in order to spur the ecosystem giants forward. It was not long ago that Android was let loose in an attempt to prove that the Mobile World is Flat. Ah but Samsung decided that it… Read More
The Morphing of Intel’s Monopoly
It was a generation ago when Intel, less than three years old, created the three fundamental building blocks of the compute era: the DRAM, the EPROM and the Microprocessor, an incredible feat of innovation by any measure. Manufacturing yield, not power or performance determined success of failure and in the first two … Read More
Adam Osborne Pays Wintel a Visit
The news this week that PC sales dropped by double digit percentages and to a level not seen since 2006 sent shudders down the halls of OEMs and chip suppliers. Are we entering a final death spiral as opposed to the gradual decline that most expected? Perhaps there is another explanation. From a distance, it appears that the mobile … Read More
Apple and Google Turn Towards Enterprise
As a calm settles over the mobile market, post the overhyped Samsung Galaxy S4 launch, many analysts are at a loss as to describe a way forward with Apple that is understandable and positive. The dozens of reports that focus on the summer launches of the iPhone 5S and cheap iphone miss the side of the barn on the true strategy being put… Read More
Qualcomm and Intel Dynasty Scenario at 14nm
At a different time, but certainly within the past 12 months, Paul Otellini was asked if Intel would be a Foundry for Qualcomm. His reply was that it did not leave a good taste in his mouth. Nevertheless it was not rejected and the door that remained open just a crack is likely to swing open for Qualcomm, the premier mobile silicon supplier… Read More
The New "Mobile Foundry" Era: Whose Wheelhouse?
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
Intel’s x86 – Foundry Breakup Comes into View
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’s New Tablet Strategy Brings Ivy Bridge to the Forefront
In an article published this week in microprocessor report and highlighted in Barron’s, Linley Gwennap makes the argument that Intel should stay the course and fix the PC instead of trying to offset its declines with sales into the Smartphone and Tablet space. He cites that lower PC sales growth was due to a dramatic slowdown in processor… Read More