New Intel CEO talks a bit about Apple while trying to reverse company woes

Pat Gelsinger was has just been named new CEO of Intel earlier this week, and appears to have made a bold start following a recent employee meeting where Gelsinger told employees that Intel needs to deliver better PC products than anything made by this “style company.” of life in Cupertino ”. Ouch.

Following a difficult tenure mired in multiple delays in the development of Intel’s chips and several major drops in its share price in 2020, many analysts had called for Intel to replace outgoing CEO Bob Swan.

As a long-time former Intel employee and one of the original architects of Intel’s 80486 processor, Gelsinger – who is stepping down from his former role as VMware CEO – is seen as a product-focused expert many hope for. be able to bring Intel back into the world. days when its chips had significant performance advantages over competitors like AMD and ARM.

According to Oregonian, who reported on the recent employee meeting, Gelsinger will have to lead Intel’s future processors as the company tries to decide whether or not to outsource chip production to third-party foundries owned by TSMC or possibly Samsung. With companies like AMD, Apple and others having recently made the switch to 7nm and 5nm nodes for their latest chips, Intel’s continued struggles to move to its own 7nm process have resulted in many successes for Intel to both in terms of performance and overall market share. .

More importantly, Apple having become quite proficient in chip design and recently started the transition of its entire PC line compared to its in-house designed ARM chips, Intel stands to lose a significant chunk of its sales, as Apple is expected to account for up to 5% of Intel’s annual revenue. Additionally, as Apple seeks to further engulf the desktop and laptop market and AMD has overtaken Intel’s processor on a performance per dollar ratio, Intel is going to have to take strong action to turn the boat around. .

“We have to deliver better products to the PC ecosystem than anything possible than a lifestyle business in Cupertino,” Gelsinger said. “When it is well executed, [our research and manufacturing] has established Intel as a leader in all fields. “

However, for a company that faced significant setbacks both in its production and in its chip design, even for a A highly respected veteran like Gelsinger, bringing Intel back to its former glory will be a tall order.

Gelsinger’s official tenure as Intel’s new CEO will begin on February 15.