Intel Said to be Considering Laying Off Thousands of Staff

[Tek-Check]

but there's still fundamental culture issues seemingly at play here.

Would you, kindly, elaborate on this?

 

[RandallFlagg]

Not to diminish Lisa Su's amazing technical leadership (Zen onwards is freaking amazing), but I'd argue it was Rory Read who turned the company around with some very difficult decisions in 2011 to 2014.

Rory Read bet the company on Zen, cutting the popular Bobcat cores division, killing other popular projects, and stabilizing the company's finances. Lisa Su took what remained of AMD and executed extremely gracefully (leading to Zen2, Zen3, Zen4 under her leadership).

The "fixing" of AMD started in 2011. It took damn near a whole decade to turn the company around with two CEOs doing everything they could. I think Intel has the cash reserves to make this happen with good leadership, but lets not pretend that this process can be completed in just a few short years... Intel's technical decisions look much better today than before, but there's still fundamental culture issues seemingly at play here.

Very good points and all true from what I've seen.

The problem with looking at any one quarter or even year over year for any chip fab or design company, is that it takes 5 years to design a chip and 4 years to build a fab.

There are just too many factors including macroeconomic and social ones, to predict where either AMD or Intel is headed.

As you say, many look at Su and think Zen, but Su actually was far more involved with the APU / console devices both before she became CEO and in her first couple of years after. She pushed that area hard, to get the Sony / Xbox wins, to keep AMD alive. When she talks about it, you can tell that is hers and she views it as core.

Zen though was started by a different group, before she became CEO.

As CEO her main success revolves around chiplets, which increased margins and yields, and the APU / console business.

Xilinx is hers too, and her next big bet. Zen 4 and 5 were probably started under her as CEO as well.

 

[R0H1T]

Cowardly CEO's...always taking the path of least resistance when it comes to keeping those quarterly earnings coming in for the parasite corporate shareholders.

Well they're more greedy SoB's than cowardly IMO, why don't they cut the flab at middle/upper management instead of firing the plebs? But hey why do you need to pay more at all when you can just fire them at will

but there are also way, way too many middle management overlaps at every level, as well as way, way too many upper level execs who make way,

Yeah that guy at the top I bet he could cover salaries of at least 1000 other entry level employees, if you also count his performance linked bonuses!

Gotta love the "free market"...at the first inkling of quarterly profits missing their mark

Free markets & trickle down economics has always been BS of the worst quality! I'm astonished how so many people fell for this very obvious con by the ones in power

 

[phanbuey]

Free markets & trickle down economics has always been BS of the worst quality! I'm astonished how so many people fell for this very obvious con by the ones in power

As opposed to? Unfortunately, the free markets are the most successful model yet. All the other models are complete disasters, and are even MORE corrupt. Give even one good alternative.

The more a model claims it's for the people the more corrupt and centralized into the hands of the greedy it really is.

 

[dragontamer5788]

Would you, kindly, elaborate on this?

Intel's culture is still one of "I'm the best around", when its no longer true. Both NVidia and AMD have technical leadership in consumer and supercomputer fields.

When we look at how much Intel screwed the scientists on the supercomputer Aurora for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory... you can see all of Intel's crappy culture at play. They failed to deliver in 2018, they changed specifications, they failed to deliver again and again. I think Intel's bet on GPUs is overall better for the company, but they needed to do it in a way that didn't screw all those scientists over. Now its 2022 and there are still delays to Aurora.

A lot of scientists bet their PH.D dissertations on the Aurora Supercomputer. All of those scientists, forever moving forward, will be distrustful of Intel. The lack of empathy for their customers just cannot stand, not while Intel is at risk of being seen as the "inferior tech" these days (compared to AMD or NVidia supercomputers). Especially when these customers are high-value / high-profile / highly influential customers like the various professors/universities engaged in supercomputer work.

Intel kinda sorta thought that they can bully their way through and just deliver whatever and people would be happy. Maybe if Intel were truly a dominant company, that'd be true. (See NVidia: everyone complains about them but we know they're one of the best around so we still put up with them). But if you're already seen as technically inferior... these kinds of moves are really, really bad for your image, and can have cascading bad results over the next decade. All those professors are going to curse at Intel as they teach the next generation of programmers.

-------

I think Intel's culture around Aurora / GPUs is improving rapidly btw. But it didn't improve rapidly enough. I'm glad to see that they're fixing issues and better delivering to their customers, but they still need more work IMO.

 

[Frick]

Personally I like the concept of villeins. Bring it back and stop pretending.

 

[zlobby]

Personally I like the concept of villeins. Bring it back and stop pretending.

While at the topic - why don't go even further, why don't we bring back slavery? Oh, wait!

 

[R0H1T]

As opposed to? Unfortunately, the free markets are the most successful model yet. All the other models are complete disasters, and are even MORE corrupt. Give even one good alternative.

The more a model claims it's for the people the more corrupt and centralized into the hands of the greedy it really is.

There is no one model that will fit everywhere, it never has & it never will but "trickle down economics" has shown itself to be a blatant lie over the last 4-5 decades since it was first coined.
An alternative would be to cap salaries at the top end & tax the ultra rich more ~ clearly the system is effing flawed if Bezos pays less in taxes (percent wise) than probably your school or university teachers!

Richest Americans—Including Bezos, Musk And Buffett—Paid Federal Income Taxes Equaling Just 3.4% Of $401 Billion In New Wealth, Bombshell Report Shows

Warren Buffett, a vocal advocate of higher income taxes on the rich, paid just 0.1%--a reflection of how little income he realized compared to his wealth.

www.forbes.com

 

[Tek-Check]

Intel's culture is still one of "I'm the best around", when its no longer true.

Thank you for your thoughts. What is your take on the quality of current and upcoming CPU and GPU architectures, including PC market dwindling demand and prices?

 

[Σario]

Cowardly CEO's...always taking the path of least resistance when it comes to keeping those quarterly earnings coming in for the parasite corporate shareholders.

I registered just to respond to you.

I am going to ask you to do me a favor that I know you won't do but;

Please go to investopedia and spend the next 3-4 weeks reading every single article. You have no idea how finance works whatsoever as outlined by your post.
You seem to think
The CEO is the "head honcho"
You don't seem to understand what a CEO's role even is
You think Corporate shareholders are "parasites"
You don't seem to understand what a shareholder does
You don't even seem to understand what the purpose of a company is.

Don't take me as some random dude attacking you or anything.
Please go educate yourself a little. Please. It will make a world of difference in understand who the shitheads are in the world and who aren't.

There is no one model that will fit everywhere, it never has & it never will but "trickle down economics" has shown itself to be a blatant lie over the last 4-5 decades since it was first coined.
An alternative would be to cap salaries at the top end & tax the ultra rich more ~ clearly the system is effing flawed if Bezos pays less in taxes (percent wise) than probably your school or university teachers!

Richest Americans—Including Bezos, Musk And Buffett—Paid Federal Income Taxes Equaling Just 3.4% Of $401 Billion In New Wealth, Bombshell Report Shows

Warren Buffett, a vocal advocate of higher income taxes on the rich, paid just 0.1%--a reflection of how little income he realized compared to his wealth.

www.forbes.com

Stuff like this and your other posts are just depressing. There's no hope for someone like you because you're so invested in the model of the world you built in your head, you can't fathom considering anything else.

 

[Steevo]

.... however his bonus check is safe and secure

Let's see, 2,000 people at $100,000 a year including benefits, taxes, etc....

$200,000,000 a year in cost, if anyone can choose the right 2000 people to let go and they give him 5Mil for doing it that is half a percent of the savings.

People think they are entitled to things, a job, money, a nice home, a new car, food. When 200 years ago none of that was guaranteed and the chances you would die by 40 of a cut, cold, starvation, or your government were greater than not. We still aren't except when we work hard, and 2000 people shilling for a multi-billion dollar company shouldn't find it that hard to get a new job #learntosweat

 

[hsew]

I can see the GPU side being placed into stasis. Axe the hardware development and support teams. Keep the software side for continued driver improvements. Then scale back up for Battlemage once the recession ebbs. Something like this might be the source of the contradicting rumors about the cancellation of Arc.

They cannot afford to lose any shred of momentum they have at this point. They are almost 2 generations behind as is.

 

[awesomesauce]

Hard to not talk about politics when news like this come.

Big boomer for people at intel

 

[claes]

Avoiding politics is not that hard. Intel had 100,000+ employees, and is considering dropping 20% of their marketing department after every tech company rode the Covid boom and thought it would never end, leading us to a techno work-from-home utopia that no government could maintain. There’s no surprise here at all IMO.

 

[simlife]

keep in mind intel was one of the companys who was going to not build a new fab in the usa unless they got tax breaks they are a horrifc company at best... if u live in the usa you even going pure amd gave money to the greedy company intel should be sued if they let ppl go

 

[RandallFlagg]

keep in mind intel was one of the companys who was going to not build a new fab in the usa unless they got tax breaks they are a horrifc company at best... if u live in the usa you even going pure amd gave money to the greedy company intel should be sued if they let ppl go

That's false.

Intel was "only" going to build a $30 billion dollar fab if they did not get breaks, because they can go to Europe or any number of other countries and get those breaks and more.

With the breaks, they committed to building $100B in fabs over the next 10 years.

 

[Minus Infinity]

ARC was only launched to appease investors and allow them to say we've met our obligations. GPU division is in deep sh!t.

Whole world economy =will be in dire straights next year. A deep protracted recession will bite hard, discretionary spending is a thing of the past for normal people struggling to pay for food let alone fuel, electricity, mortgages as interest rates soar thanks to incompetent central banks that greatly helped bring on this inflation.

 

[watzupken]

Article mentions that we are "going into" a recession. I am not sure if we are going into, or already in it. Nations like to downplay and tweak the definition as and when they like it. But clearly, the signs are plastered everywhere, but just getting denied by the leaders. And with the recent big rate hikes, it is going to cause even more issues. Not only are essentials not getting cheaper, loans/credits are getting very expensive to service. In a highly gear society where people or corporates take sizeable loan/ credit, it will no doubt cause more pain.

As to job cuts, I don't like it, and I think everyone won't like it either. But this is the reality when you are working for a company, and one that chases after profits. It is harsh, but I think anyone who runs a business will generally do the same when times are really bad.

 

[thesmokingman]

This surely is not a surprise to anyone following markets.

 

[JustBenching]

Cowardly CEO's...always taking the path of least resistance when it comes to keeping those quarterly earnings coming in for the parasite corporate shareholders.

The ceo either makes money, or gets fired. If you were an investor putting money on the line, you would do so to get a benefit, else youd give it to charity. Blaming is easy when you don't have your own money on the line

 

[mechtech]

Cut all execs wages shares and bonuses first.

 

[mahirzukic2]

In addition to the GPU side going into stasis, I can see Intel going to a two year CPU release schedule. AMD has already moved both its CPUs and GPUs to a two year schedule. Nvidia GPUs are on two years. Meteor Lake is already rumored for a 2024 release. With the global economy and fab shrinks slowing down, this makes sense. If this is the case, PC builds/upgrades will last longer with now the best time to do so given new CPUs and GPUs from all companies were just updated.

Exactly. I am just waiting for the 7950x3D to drop and will be set for years if not decade, like I was with my current setup.

 

[The red spirit]

Gelsinger himself is taking salary north of $150Million/year. Thats worth salaries of hundreds of low ranking marketting staff. Culling his salary alone would save quite a few jobs.

Just saying, but isn't CEOs salary decided at stock owners meeting and then voted for?

 

[mahirzukic2]

Gotta love the "free market"...at the first inkling of quarterly profits missing their mark, they immediately throw out the work force....more unemployed workers mean people are buying fewer consumer goods in our economy entirely based on consumerism...when they buy fewer consumer goods, the economy takes a down turn and.....you guessed it....more companies immediately throw out the work force....more unemployed workers means people are buying fewer consumer goods....and repeat

Situations like the one demonstrated above are a perfect example of why nationalized, or "state owned" industries, are an excellent bulwark against the cyclical downturns of capitalism. For example, a state owned steel industry can operate with revenues that just cover costs, or even at a loss for a while, so instead of throwing out the work force, they remain employed and therefore still have disposable income to buy consumer goods. Furthermore, the state owned steel industry can keep prices on steel low by running at cost or at a loss and insulate other downstream industries that rely on that steel from the chain reaction caused by economic downturns.

Now instead of steel, imagine if that state owned industry was something even more fundamental to current industrial order: oil.

See that analysis is very fine except that would hurt and wouldn't sit right with the current oil barons of the world.

 

[zlobby]

Just saying, but isn't CEOs salary decided at stock owners meeting and then voted for?

It depends. But generally CEO can't increase their own salary or severance package without board approval.