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AMD had to go through that in order to become a competitive business again. Look at them now! Maybe Intel's chip design business needs to go through the same th

AMD had to go through that in order to become a competitive business again. Look at them now! Maybe Intel's chip design business needs to go through the same thing. Maybe there is a way for Intel to open up its fab business to other customers and make it more independent, without splitting it off into another company. However, it seems like that would require a change in direction that goes against decades of company culture. It might be easier to achieve that by actually splitting the fab business off.

totalZero 6y ago
Self-immolation is only a path to growth if you're a magical bird -- it's not a reasonable strategy for a healthy public company. AMD went through seven years of pain and humiliation between that spinoff and its 2015 glow-up. I understand that sometimes the optimal solution involves a short-term hit, but you don't just sell your organs on a lark (nor because some finance bros at Third Point said so). There are obvious strategic reasons to remain an IDM, and AMD would never have gone fabless if the company hadn't been in an existential crisis. Intel is nowhere near that kind of crisis; it may have some egg on its face but the company still dominates market share in its core businesses and is making profits hand over fist. > Maybe there is a way for Intel to open up its fab business to other customers and make it more independent, without splitting it off into another company. Intel Custom Foundry. They have several years of experience doing exactly what you describe, and that's how their relationship with Altera (which they later acquired) began. I see AMD's subsequent bid for Xilinx as a copycat acquisition that demonstrates one of the competitive advantages of Intel's position as an IDM: information.
- twblalock 6y ago
  > Intel is nowhere near that kind of crisis; it may have some egg on its face but the company still dominates market share in its core businesses and is making profits hand over fist. Years from now, people looking back will be amazed at how fast that changed. The time to react to disruption is now, when the company still has the ability to do so.
  - totalZero 6y ago
    It's easy to make that kind of prediction, and in fact people made the same prediction about AMD in far worse circumstances -- and were still wrong. Semiconductors are extremely important to the world's economy right now, not just in PC and server but all over the tech marketplace.
Covzire 6y ago
But look at Global Foundries now. The article does suggest that Intel's spun off fabs would need state funding to survive but is that really tenable for the long term? Is that TSMC's secret thus far?
- tgtweak 6y ago
  Global Foundries has stopped at 12nm and I don't see any plans to go beyond that. A notable amount of their fabs are in South Korea anyway so they would fall into the same bucket.

totalZero 6y ago

Self-immolation is only a path to growth if you're a magical bird -- it's not a reasonable strategy for a healthy public company. AMD went through seven years of pain and humiliation between that spinoff and its 2015 glow-up. I understand that sometimes the optimal solution involves a short-term hit, but you don't just sell your organs on a lark (nor because some finance bros at Third Point said so). There are obvious strategic reasons to remain an IDM, and AMD would never have gone fabless if the company hadn't been in an existential crisis. Intel is nowhere near that kind of crisis; it may have some egg on its face but the company still dominates market share in its core businesses and is making profits hand over fist. > Maybe there is a way for Intel to open up its fab business to other customers and make it more independent, without splitting it off into another company. Intel Custom Foundry. They have several years of experience doing exactly what you describe, and that's how their relationship with Altera (which they later acquired) began. I see AMD's subsequent bid for Xilinx as a copycat acquisition that demonstrates one of the competitive advantages of Intel's position as an IDM: information.

twblalock 6y ago
> Intel is nowhere near that kind of crisis; it may have some egg on its face but the company still dominates market share in its core businesses and is making profits hand over fist. Years from now, people looking back will be amazed at how fast that changed. The time to react to disruption is now, when the company still has the ability to do so.
- totalZero 6y ago
  It's easy to make that kind of prediction, and in fact people made the same prediction about AMD in far worse circumstances -- and were still wrong. Semiconductors are extremely important to the world's economy right now, not just in PC and server but all over the tech marketplace.

Covzire 6y ago

But look at Global Foundries now. The article does suggest that Intel's spun off fabs would need state funding to survive but is that really tenable for the long term? Is that TSMC's secret thus far?

tgtweak 6y ago
Global Foundries has stopped at 12nm and I don't see any plans to go beyond that. A notable amount of their fabs are in South Korea anyway so they would fall into the same bucket.