Intel Corp is hitting all the targets it has set on a path to regain leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, an executive responsible for the effort said on Monday.
“We’re completely on track,” Intel vice president Ann Kelleher, the head of technology development, told a news briefing in San Francisco. “We do quarterly milestones, and according to those milestones we’re ahead or on track.”
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has vowed to regain leadership in production technology, formerly one of the foundations of the company’s decades of dominance in the US$580 billion industry.
Photo: Bloomberg
Kelleher’s team is trying to make up for the chipmaker’s delay in delivering a manufacturing technique that arrived five years later than originally promised.
The group is accelerating the effort to introduce new processes at an unprecedented pace.
If Gelsinger’s plan succeeds, Intel stands to reverse market share losses to rivals such as Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Nvidia Corp. Better production would also allow Intel to attract customers for the CEO’s attempt to take on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co in the growing business of contract manufacturing.
Kelleher said Intel is taking a far more pragmatic approach than in the past, building in contingency plans to make sure there are no more major delays.
The company is also relying more on equipment vendors for help, rather than trying to do all of the work itself, she said.
“Intel in the past had high walls in terms of not sharing,” said Kelleher, who has been with the Santa Clara, California-based company for more than 30 years. “We don’t need to lead in everything.”
Intel is trying to improve its manufacturing capabilities as it struggles with declining revenue and a steep drop in demand for personal computers, which generate more than half its sales.
In October, the company said actions, including headcount reductions and slower spending on new plants, would result in savings of US$3 billion next year, with annual cuts swelling to much as US$10 billion by the end of 2025.
Intel is now mass producing 7-nanometer chips. It is ready to start manufacturing 4-nanometer semiconductors and to move to 3 nanometers in the second half of next year, Kelleher said.
She added that her budget is secure and would not be affected by the company’s cost cuts.
In related news, Intel yesterday confirmed that Gelsinger is visiting today and tomorrow the company’s Taiwanese PC and server partners, including Acer Inc (宏碁), Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達).
That is part of Gelsinger’s Asia tour. He is to fly next to South Korea to meet Samsung Electronics Co executive chairman Lee Jae-yong.
Additional reporting by Lisa Wang
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
RSS