According to the executive responsible, Intel Corp. is meeting all of its goals to regain leadership in semiconductor production.
Ann Kelleher, Intel Vice President and head of technology, stated Monday at a San Francisco press conference that “we’re completely on target.” “We have quarterly milestones. According to those milestones we are ahead or on-track.”
Pat Gelsinger, Intel Chief Executive Officer has promised to regain leadership within production technology. It was once the foundation of Intel’s decades-long dominance of the $580 billion market. Kelleher’s group is trying to make up the five-year delay that Intel suffered in delivering its manufacturing process. The group is intensifying their efforts to create new processes at an unmatched pace.
Intel can reverse market share loss to Nvidia Corp. or Advanced Micro Devices Inc., if Gelsinger’s plans succeed. Intel’s ability to produce better products will allow it to attract customers for its attempt to compete with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. as well as Samsung Electronics Co. for contract manufacturing — which makes semiconductors for other chip companies.
Kelleher explained that Intel is now more pragmatic than in the past and has built in contingency plans to prevent major delays. She said it also relies more on equipment vendors rather than trying to do the entire work.
Kelleher, who worked for Intel Santa Clara, California, for more than 30 year, stated that “Intel” in the past was a company with high barriers to sharing. “We don’t have to be leaders in everything.”
Intel is looking to improve its manufacturing capabilities in the face of declining revenue and a sharp decline in personal computers’ demand. These devices account for more than half of its sales. According to Intel, headcount reductions and slower spending on new plants will lead to savings of $3 billion next ye, with annual cuts of up to $10 billion by 2025.
Producing chips that are more efficient — using improvements in production numbers smaller than nanometers or billionths a meter — improves efficiency in factories and increases the ability of electronic components to store data and process it in a more efficient manner.
Intel is currently mass-producing 7-nanometer chips. Kelleher indicated that it is ready for production of 4-nanometer semiconductors. It will then be ready to go to 3 nanometers by the second half in 2023. The original nanometer measurement was used to measure the main part of a transistor. Now, the term is more loosely used to show how advanced companies relative to their peers.
Kelleher was a worker in Intel’s factories. She has a prosaic understanding of the marketing language used to compare the technology capabilities within the industry.
“Seven Measures Nothing, We Might As Well Call It ‘George’,” she stated.
Kelleher is determined restore Intel’s glory, even though terms like 7 nanometer may not be relevant to chip production today. She stated that her budget was secure and would not be affected due to the company’s recent cost cuts.
TSMC, Samsung and Intel are currently the most prominent producers of production technology. The Taiwanese company was the first to make chips for other companies. Both companies are now a key part of the global supply chains. It includes making components to companies such as Apple Inc. Qualcomm Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. as well as Intel direct rivals like AMD and Nvidia.