Intel executives responsible for mobile and wearables leaving.

[Vesku]

http://www.kitguru.net/components/c...nt-renee-james-other-execs-leave-the-company/

Indicative of Intel having a hard time getting design wins in mobile without offering rebates ("contra revenue")?

 

[Ajay]

From the same article:

What is, perhaps, more important, is that Hermann Eul, the former head of mobile and communications group, and Mike Bell, the former head of new devices group, will leave the company after a transition period, which will likely happen in 2016. While both executives were instrumental in making Intel more competitive in the mobile market, the company is still an underdog in smartphones and wearables

I recall Bell being an especially important hire. Not good news for Intel.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Intel sure has issues breaking into mobile markets.

Anyone want to speculate that Intel might become a "server only" company some years down the road? Like what Intel did to IBM, before them. ARM is eating Intel's marketshare up from the bottom.

They can still sell "workstation" Xeons too, to those few business customers that don't want / need a "mobile" workforce.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Mike Bell goes on retirement it seems.

http://techreport.com/news/28572/ren-e-james-steps-down-as-intel-president

 

[ShintaiDK]

Intel sure has issues breaking into mobile markets.

Anyone want to speculate that Intel might become a "server only" company some years down the road? Like what Intel did to IBM, before them. ARM is eating Intel's marketshare up from the bottom.

They can still sell "workstation" Xeons too, to those few business customers that don't want / need a "mobile" workforce.

Just because they streamline the company? Unlikely.

Servers is also not enough.

Also you got it wrong, intel is eating ARM. ARM ahve gained 0 in Intels segments, while Intel have eaten a huge chunck of the ARM tablet segment.

 

[jpiniero]

Also you got it wrong, intel is eating ARM. ARM ahve gained 0 in Intels segments, while Intel have eaten a huge chunck of the ARM tablet segment.

Can they do it without the subsidy though? That's the ... er... $1B question. The answer seems to be no.

Intel will be fine as long as corporations continue to buy laptops (and also desktops).

 

[Jovec]

Can they do it without the subsidy though? That's the ... er... $1B question. The answer seems to be no.

What does it matter? Plenty of companies use the profits of one part to pay for the losses of another.

 

[Phynaz]

Renee James is leaving too.

 

[cbn]

Can they do it without the subsidy though? That's the ... er... $1B question. The answer seems to be no.

I think the idea behind Rockchip was to share costs and make the phone chips more affordable.

I thought it was (and is) a great idea, although I am disappointed to see the Rockchip quad core SoFIA receive a 200 Mhz lower clock than the Intel SoFIA LTE.

 

[Ajay]

Just because they streamline the company? Unlikely.

Servers is also not enough.

Also you got it wrong, intel is eating ARM. ARM ahve gained 0 in Intels segments, while Intel have eaten a huge chunck of the ARM tablet segment.

Well, Intel did roll mobile in the CCG, so I guess we should have expected something like this. Still, they are losing some good ppl. It's really time that will tell. We have some 14/16FF SoCs coming online that could temporarily stall Intel again until 10nm. Intel has to get it's BOM costs down. Seems like Intel won't get Apple of Samsung as high profile wins anytime soon.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Also you got it wrong, intel is eating ARM. ARM ahve gained 0 in Intels segments, while Intel have eaten a huge chunck of the ARM tablet segment.

I thought I had read that last year, there were as many ARM-powered cell phones and tablets sold, in one year, as there were total desktops sold, since desktops have been sold.

IOW, in terms of total units sold, ARM is blowing away Intel.

 

[jpiniero]

What does it matter? Plenty of companies use the profits of one part to pay for the losses of another.

It's a sign that Intel's attempt to get the BOM costs down are not going well; and it could be a sign that they are ready to give up on it.

 

[cbn]

It's a sign that Intel's attempt to get the BOM costs down are not going well; and it could be a sign that they are ready to give up on it.

I'm not sure if BOM or subsidies are the major problem.

According to Digitimes, SoFIA LTE is delayed until 2016.

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20150629PD202.html

Digitimes Research: Intel 28nm SoFIA 4G AP delayed to early 2016; may face overlap issue with 14nm version
Eric Lin, DIGITIMES Research, Taipei [Monday 29 June 2015]

Despite the fact that the design is complete and the chip is ready for mass production, Intel's 28nm SoFIA 4G application processor (AP) is still unlikely to be launched until the beginning of 2016 due to the adjustments over the software part that is still not yet mature. For 2015, Intel will still need to rely on its SoFIA 3G/3G-R APs to prop up is mobile device AP business and may miss the business opportunities from the 4G market, which is expected to grow rapidly in the second half of this year.

Intel may face an even more problematic issue in 2016 as its 14nm SoFIA product line is already planned for late-2016 and could overlap with the 28nm one from early 2016 and affect each other's demand.

Intel currently only has solutions that pair an independent XMM baseband with an Atom AP for its 4G product lineup, but the solutions are unattractive to players in China due to its high prices. Intel has been working on integrating two chips into an SoC for its SoFIA product line since the end of 2014 to improve the BOM, Digitimes Research noted.

With the SoFIA 4G - which was originally scheduled for 2015 - being delayed until early 2016 and Intel only being able to provide baseband+AP solutions for 4G demand in 2015, the CPU giant may find it difficult to persuade clients to use its solutions for their 4G devices due to the high prices and its subsidies for using its solutions are unlikely to provide much persuasion.

Intel's second-generation SoFIA 4G AP, based on a 14nm process, will become available in late-2016 and could put the first-generation SoFIA 4G AP based on a Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's (TSMC) 28nm process, in an awkward position and cause the 28nm AP to have an over-short lifecycle. Although Intel may offer cheap prices for the 28nm SoFIA 4G AP and push the 14nm one to the high-end market sector to create a boundary, the CPU giant will still see its profit impacted and its marketing for the processors will also be limited.

 

[CHADBOGA]

I thought I had read that last year, there were as many ARM-powered cell phones and tablets sold, in one year, as there were total desktops sold, since desktops have been sold.

IOW, in terms of total units sold, ARM is blowing away Intel.

$10 chips sell in greater quantity than $100 chips, hardly a surprise.

 

[CHADBOGA]

From the same article:

I recall Bell being an especially important hire. Not good news for Intel.

It has been pretty obvious for a long time now that Intel hasn't had the right people in place to direct their mobile efforts.

Who knows how long it will be before they sort this out.

 

[VirtualLarry]

$10 chips sell in greater quantity than $100 chips, hardly a surprise.

True, but it does have implications for a consumer-based software ecosystem. Having much greater installed-base number will attract more developers; it's why Windows had so many more applications back in the day than MacOS.

 

[Essence_of_War]

IOW, in terms of total units sold, ARM is blowing away Intel.

Ok, sure but that isn't at all the same as:

ARM is eating Intel's marketshare up from the bottom.

ARM-based chips kicked in the door of an entirely new market, and now they are turning to new food sources like the server market, while Intel is simultaneously trying to expand into the new market. There is certainly an analogy to Intel-IBM, but it isn't a complete recapitulation.

 

[dealcorn]

Do note that as part of this shake up, Aicha Evans will join Intel's Management Committee effective immediately. She already had a big job, but now it is bigger. The following link contains BK's memo to employees http://www.intel.com/newsroom/archive/CEO_memo.pdf

 

[Phynaz]

I thought I had read that last year, there were as many ARM-powered cell phones and tablets sold, in one year, as there were total desktops sold, since desktops have been sold.

IOW, in terms of total units sold, ARM is blowing away Intel.

ARM doesn't sell chips.

 

[lamedude]

So no more Intel beanies?