Intel has introduced a key buyer win and adjustments to its foundry enterprise because the beleaguered chipmaker seems to be to execute a turnaround.
Intel is taking steps to transition its chip foundry division, Intel Foundry, to an unbiased subsidiary, Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger mentioned in a weblog publish. Intel Foundry’s management isn’t altering, and the subsidiary will stay inside Intel. However Intel Foundry will acquire an working board together with unbiased administrators.
Gelsinger additionally mentioned the corporate would pause its chip fabrication tasks in Poland and Germany for 2 years “primarily based on anticipated market demand,” and think about pulling again on its chip packaging and testing operations in Malaysia. Intel beforehand pledged to spend over $36 billion to construct semiconductor factories in Magdeburg, Germany, $4.6 billion on a chip plant close to the Polish metropolis of Wroclaw, and $7 billion on its Malaysia footprint.
However in a win for the foundry enterprise, Gelsinger revealed that Intel has signed a cope with AWS to co-develop an AI chip utilizing Intel’s 18A chip fabrication course of. Intel has additionally agreed to supply a customized Xeon 6 processor for AWS, constructing on an current partnership between the 2 companies.
“We now have tripled our deal pipeline because the starting of the yr,” Gelsinger mentioned of Intel Foundry’s enterprise, describing the AWS deal as a “multi-year, multi-billion-dollar framework” that would probably contain extra chip designs. He added that it “demonstrates the continued progress we’re making to construct a world-class foundry enterprise.”
Intel’s cost-cutting and dealmaking — together with a newly-awarded $3.5 billion contract to construct chips for the Pentagon — despatched the corporate’s inventory hovering over 6% at market shut. It’s a shiny spot in Intel’s in any other case grim fiscal yr.
In Q1, Intel posted a $437 million web loss — a loss that widened to $1.6 billion in Q2. Intel Foundry posted $5.3 billion in working losses in H1, regardless of a slight year-over-year climb in income.
Intel additionally reportedly misplaced out on a significant buyer, Sony, after failing to return to a chip manufacturing settlement for Sony’s subsequent Ps console. That tie-up would’ve contributed $30 billion to Intel’s foundry enterprise, in keeping with Reuters.
This summer time, Intel introduced a $10 billion cost-reduction plan, which included shedding 15,000 staffers by separation and early retirement choices. (Intel says it’s greater than midway by the method and expects to wrap up by the top of the yr.) The chipmaker has additionally reportedly thought of promoting its autonomous driving arm Mobileye and its enterprise networking division.