Monday, September 2nd 2024
Intel Considers Sale of Altera Business Amid Restructuring Plans, Foundry Business to Stay
Intel is reportedly exploring the sale of its Altera business, a move guided by CEO Pat Gelsinger as part of broader restructuring efforts. Acquired by Intel in 2015 for $16.7 billion, Altera, formerly known as the Programmable Solutions Group, has been a profitable segment. However, with Intel facing financial strain due to extensive spending, the company is now considering divesting its FPGA business to recoup capital. Currently, Altera operates as a separate entity within Intel, relying on the tech giant for R&D, sales, marketing, and support. Gelsinger is expected to propose the sale at a board meeting scheduled for mid-September, where he will outline his vision for Intel's future. This restructuring could also affect other parts of Intel's operations, including its Foundry business.
While previous reports suggested that Intel might spin off its Foundry unit or sell it to industry leaders like TSMC or Samsung, the latest information indicates that Intel plans to retain this division, albeit with scaled-back expansion efforts. The $32 billion factory in Germany, for example, may be scrapped, along with other capital-intensive projects, and other capital expansions may also be put on hold. Pat Gelsinger's vision still needs to be finalized and is still in the drafting phase, so until the mid-September board meeting, we have to wait to gain more information.
Source:
Reuters
While previous reports suggested that Intel might spin off its Foundry unit or sell it to industry leaders like TSMC or Samsung, the latest information indicates that Intel plans to retain this division, albeit with scaled-back expansion efforts. The $32 billion factory in Germany, for example, may be scrapped, along with other capital-intensive projects, and other capital expansions may also be put on hold. Pat Gelsinger's vision still needs to be finalized and is still in the drafting phase, so until the mid-September board meeting, we have to wait to gain more information.
37 Comments on Intel Considers Sale of Altera Business Amid Restructuring Plans, Foundry Business to Stay
It wasn't until Keller was flown in to AMD's CPU division that things took a radical change for the better. Similar things must occur at Intel - but when Intel had to make that move, they hired Raja and Pat G for this and on CPU they never did a full reset while Raja was destined to start with the scraps of decades of Intel IGPs. Old boys doing old tricks. Pat G was always Intel. And Raja... honestly, sure, the man knows his way around GPUs. But he was put in the wrong position, the man shouldn't get screentime, and shouldn't be doing the project management. He makes mistakes. Big ones, and they've been evident not just at Intel but also at AMD. Overselling every time, and underdelivering as a result. Even at AMD I think his hands were tied, like you pointed out, but at the same time, if he's truly an insightful engineer in a leading position, shouldn't he be lining out a different strategy to make the best chip? Vega didn't just lack in performance (per watt) but it was also a pita to source HBM. Polaris, while 'successful' in sales, didn't move GCN forward much, and RDNA1 was a bunch of nothing if you ask me, stopgap gen if anything. Was the strategy of AMD truly to execute several generations of GPU with that little progress towards matching the cutting edge? They literally plateaud at Vega performance, hard, for a long time, and up to this day the GPU strategy often seems to lack direction (at least in the PC DIY space).
Now let's look at what Pat's done for Intel as CEO. Overselling... underdelivering. I'm sure they're great engineers. And I'm sure that's what they should have kept doing. I strongly doubt Raja was treated at Intel like Keller was treated at AMD. Part of that is company culture, arrogance vs underdog mentality must have played its part here, too.
No more merit bonuses, and the feeling that performance metrics will get you fired for just about anything. No wonder so many are looking to bail. Taking away free snacks and coffee is just petty and is going to bear bitter fruit (pun intended)
Even now, it hasn't dawned on you that if this argument is because of off-topic (and it wasn't, since the subject is the supposed poor performance of Intel executives - and any criticism leveled at Raja - currently an Intel executive and formerly an AMD executive - is based on Reddit's misguided view that he is solely responsible for the Radeon Vega flop) - you only managed to prolong it.
I did not insert AMD in this thread. And stop backseat moderating, go find something better to spend your time with.
www.nbc4i.com/intel-in-ohio/what-could-happen-to-intel-ohio-plant-with-possible-changes-to-parent-division/