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
‘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
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
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
RSS