Intel announces technology team restructuring amid 7nm woes

AppleInsider

Intel on Monday announced a series of key organizational changes to its technology unit, which will include the departure of the group's engineering head.

Credit: Intel

The change, which sees Intel's technology group split into five distinct teams, comes several days after the chipmaker said that its 7nm processors would -- once again -- be delayed by six months.

As part of the restructuring, Intel's Technology Systems, Architecture and Client Group's (TSCG) chief engineering officer, Murthy Renduchintala, will depart the firm in early August.

The new organization breaks up the Technology, Systems Architecture and Client Group into five entities: Technology Development; Manufacturing and Operations; Design Engineering; Architecture Software and Graphics; and Supply Chain. Leaders for these groups will now report directly to CEO Bob Swan. With the sweeping changes, Intel said it hopes to "improve focus and accountability in process technology execution."

According to one Intel insider, reported issues with quality assurance and chip delays may have spurred Apple to make the move to its own first-party Apple silicon in Mac.

That chip transition, announced at WWDC 2020, is expected to take two years. Macs with A-series chips are already out in the wild in the form of the Developers Transition Kit, a Mac mini with an A12Z processor designed to help developers prepare for the switch.



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jintech

"Oh shit our stock is in the toilet and Apple is bout pounce on us, what are we gonna do!? Lets restructure!"

canukstorm

JinTech said:

"Oh shit our stock is in the toilet and Apple is bout pounce on us, what are we gonna do!? Lets restructure!"

They're restructuring because the person directly responsible for Intel's f**kups the past few years is being fired.

civa

canukstorm said: 

They're restructuring because the person directly responsible for Intel's f**kups the past few years is being fired.

I think it’s both. They fired the guy who has kept screwing up, and they realized they’re about to be pounced on. 

beats

Writing on the wall.

anome

JinTech said:

"Oh shit our stock is in the toilet and Apple is bout pounce on us, what are we gonna do!? Lets restructure!"

Arrange the following words into a well known phrase or saying "Deckchairs, Titanic, Rearrange, On".

Actually, I don't think Intel is in that much trouble. It may be that this will fix their problems with the engineering bottleneck they seem to be in, but probably won't. Sometimes organisations just like to rearrange things to look like they're doing something, and it has no actual effect.

canukstorm

anome said:

JinTech said:

"Oh shit our stock is in the toilet and Apple is bout pounce on us, what are we gonna do!? Lets restructure!"

Arrange the following words into a well known phrase or saying "Deckchairs, Titanic, Rearrange, On".

Actually, I don't think Intel is in that much trouble. It may be that this will fix their problems with the engineering bottleneck they seem to be in, but probably won't. Sometimes organisations just like to rearrange things to look like they're doing something, and it has no actual effect.

Don't be surprised if Intel goes fabless in 5 years.

canukstorm

https://twitter.com/FPiednoel/status/1286482677105717250

dewme

I think they got too complacent, spent too much time making money riding a cash cow strategy with cost-targeted incremental updates, and spent too little time making amazing new products as if their survival depended on it. If they don't aggressively turn things around in the next 12 months there will be a lot of folks spending a lot more time with their families and thinking about what the heck they're going to do with the rest of their lives. Big companies are notorious for looking down their noses at upstarts in their line of business, even calling them "ankle biters." Well now, AMD and the many ARM licensees are well on their way to chewing off entire legs, and China, Inc., will eventually come in with a homegrown x86 solution that will lap up whatever little scraps remain in that market - a market that Apple will soon no longer be a part of. Apple isn't just moving on from Intel, they are moving on from the market that Intel represents, one that's rooted in the past rather than the future.

omasou

anome said:

JinTech said:

"Oh shit our stock is in the toilet and Apple is bout pounce on us, what are we gonna do!? Lets restructure!"

Arrange the following words into a well known phrase or saying "Deckchairs, Titanic, Rearrange, On".

Actually, I don't think Intel is in that much trouble. It may be that this will fix their problems with the engineering bottleneck they seem to be in, but probably won't. Sometimes organisations just like to rearrange things to look like they're doing something, and it has no actual effect.

Seriously? Intel just lost the biggest customer in the WORLD and you are attributing the reporting change due to grins and giggles.

The reason they are reporting to the CEO is b/c if he doesn't right the ship in 2 years and also develop a plan to replace the gapping hole in revenue left by Apple, he will be NEXT!

edited July 2020

lkrupp

anome said:

JinTech said:

"Oh shit our stock is in the toilet and Apple is bout pounce on us, what are we gonna do!? Lets restructure!"

Arrange the following words into a well known phrase or saying "Deckchairs, Titanic, Rearrange, On".

Actually, I don't think Intel is in that much trouble. It may be that this will fix their problems with the engineering bottleneck they seem to be in, but probably won't. Sometimes organisations just like to rearrange things to look like they're doing something, and it has no actual effect.

Agree. intel will be around as long as tech luddites who won’t let go of X86 keep building cheap boxes that run Windows. You know, 95% of the market.

jwsc

It’s right that the chief engineer should be removed.  He wasn’t getting it done.  But this newly restructured org doesn’t inspire confidence as the areas of responsibility do not appear to be clearly delineated.  While splitting Manufacturing and Operations, and Supply Chain makes sense, the Technology Development, Design Engineering, and Architecture Software and Graphics look like they have substantial overlap. It’s also a little odd that the new heads of each group will report directly to the CEO and not to a single technical lead responsible for overall product vision and execution.

tzeshan

lkrupp said:

anome said:

JinTech said:

"Oh shit our stock is in the toilet and Apple is bout pounce on us, what are we gonna do!? Lets restructure!"

Arrange the following words into a well known phrase or saying "Deckchairs, Titanic, Rearrange, On".

Actually, I don't think Intel is in that much trouble. It may be that this will fix their problems with the engineering bottleneck they seem to be in, but probably won't. Sometimes organisations just like to rearrange things to look like they're doing something, and it has no actual effect.

Agree. intel will be around as long as tech luddites who won’t let go of X86 keep building cheap boxes that run Windows. You know, 95% of the market.

What about AMD?

tmay

I saw this story, wrt x86 and ARM

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4360818-increasing-in-share-of-developers-apple-and-amazon-topple-intels-x86-empire

If developer migrate to ARM and Apple ASi, then x86 will be in real trouble.

tedz98

When will Intel unveil a long term strategic plan that brings an end to the close-to-50-year old x86 architecture? Microsoft is at risk too with the constraints of an old x86 architecture. Is ARM the best way forward for the industry? I don’t know. But perhaps the best future is a totally new architecture that provides a bridge from the past to the future. It’s a bit like Boeing always finding a way to upgrade the 50+ year old 737. Time for Boeing and Intel to kill the cash cows and build something new.

canukstorm

tedz98 said:

When will Intel unveil a long term strategic plan that brings an end to the close-to-50-year old x86 architecture? Microsoft is at risk too with the constraints of an old x86 architecture. Is ARM the best way forward for the industry? I don’t know. But perhaps the best future is a totally new architecture that provides a bridge from the past to the future. It’s a bit like Boeing always finding a way to upgrade the 50+ year old 737. Time for Boeing and Intel to kill the cash cows and build something new.

Intel tried that once with Itanium. It crashed and burned.  Then it tried entering the ARM space with Xscale.  Also fail.  It had to end up selling all the assets related to Xscale.  MS has tried to move away from legacy Windows with Windows RT, Windows 10S, Windows 8.  All bombed.  And now it's trying to make another go at it with Windows 10X early next year.

edited July 2020

jdb8167

canukstorm said:

JinTech said:

"Oh shit our stock is in the toilet and Apple is bout pounce on us, what are we gonna do!? Lets restructure!"

They're restructuring because the person directly responsible for Intel's f**kups the past few years is being fired.

Well, he didn’t make things better but I suspect that the troubles at Intel go way deeper than a single executive. He might have the been the reason that Jim Keller left though which in my mind would make this a correct decision. Intel is in big trouble and one firing of a potentially problematic executive isn’t going to right the ship. Bob Swan is the next to go probably. 

jdb8167

canukstorm said:

tedz98 said:

When will Intel unveil a long term strategic plan that brings an end to the close-to-50-year old x86 architecture? Microsoft is at risk too with the constraints of an old x86 architecture. Is ARM the best way forward for the industry? I don’t know. But perhaps the best future is a totally new architecture that provides a bridge from the past to the future. It’s a bit like Boeing always finding a way to upgrade the 50+ year old 737. Time for Boeing and Intel to kill the cash cows and build something new.

Intel tried that once with Itanium. It crashed and burned.  Then it tried entering the ARM space with Xscale.  Also fail.  It had to end up selling all the assets related to Xscale.  MS has tried to move away from legacy Windows with Windows RT, Windows 10S, Windows 8.  All bombed.  And now it's trying to make another go at it with Windows 10X early next year.

XScale was a leading ARM developer. Intel sold them to Marvel because they thought it looked bad for their mobile division if they supported an ARM design. The XScale division was briefly a leader in ARM performance per watt. Intel thought they could do better. Intel is still paying the price for that.

edited July 2020

canukstorm

jdb8167 said:

canukstorm said:

JinTech said:

"Oh shit our stock is in the toilet and Apple is bout pounce on us, what are we gonna do!? Lets restructure!"

They're restructuring because the person directly responsible for Intel's f**kups the past few years is being fired.

Well, he didn’t make things better but I suspect that the troubles at Intel go way deeper than a single executive. He might have the been the reason that Jim Keller left though which in my mind would make this a correct decision. Intel is in big trouble and one firing of a potentially problematic executive isn’t going to right the ship. Bob Swan is the next to go probably. 

Not according to a few well-known insiders.  This video was posted a few days ago by a tech analyst who's well-known within the silicon industry circles.  Interesting to say the least.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nsX9nUFIBc

canukstorm

jdb8167 said:

canukstorm said:

JinTech said:

"Oh shit our stock is in the toilet and Apple is bout pounce on us, what are we gonna do!? Lets restructure!"

They're restructuring because the person directly responsible for Intel's f**kups the past few years is being fired.

Well, he didn’t make things better but I suspect that the troubles at Intel go way deeper than a single executive. He might have the been the reason that Jim Keller left though which in my mind would make this a correct decision. Intel is in big trouble and one firing of a potentially problematic executive isn’t going to right the ship. Bob Swan is the next to go probably. 

I agree.  It is definitely not a guarantee.  Some say Bob Swan is next.  Some say Raja Koduri is next.

jdb8167

canukstorm said:

jdb8167 said:

canukstorm said:

JinTech said:

"Oh shit our stock is in the toilet and Apple is bout pounce on us, what are we gonna do!? Lets restructure!"

They're restructuring because the person directly responsible for Intel's f**kups the past few years is being fired.

Well, he didn’t make things better but I suspect that the troubles at Intel go way deeper than a single executive. He might have the been the reason that Jim Keller left though which in my mind would make this a correct decision. Intel is in big trouble and one firing of a potentially problematic executive isn’t going to right the ship. Bob Swan is the next to go probably. 

Not according to a few well-known insiders.  This video was posted a few days ago by a tech analyst who's well-known within the silicon industry circles.  Interesting to say the least.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nsX9nUFIBc

Saw that. But he also thought that “Murthy” was in a good place politically.

My favorite though was a quote from the analyst that was allegedly from an Intel insider, “7 is is looking worse then 10”. If true, yikes!

edited July 2020