Intel is unique in the chip industry in that it both designs and manufactures chips. The company has shed more than $100 billion in value as it struggles to regain its lost lead in manufacturing and missed out on the AI boom dominated by Nvidia.
Intel shares rose about 2.3% following the executives’ comments.
Speaking at a Barclays investment banking conference in San Francisco on Thursday, Michelle Johnston Holthaus and David Zinsner – who were tapped as co-CEOs after the ouster of former CEO Pat Gelsinger last week – were asked if the company’s continued combination of manufacturing and design was tied to the success of a new chipmaking technology called 18A due next year.
Intel plans to use that technology to bring manufacturing of a flagship PC chip back in-house after being forced to outsource its biggest product to rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing.
“Pragmatically, do I think it makes sense that they’re completely separated and there’s no tie?” Holthaus said of the company’s product and manufacturing divisions. “I don’t think so. But someone will decide that.”
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Zinsner, who also serves as Intel’s chief financial officer, outlined how Intel is already separating the finances and operations of this manufacturing division into a standalone subsidiary. “That’s going to happen,” Zinsner said. “Does it ever fully separate? That’s an open question for another day.”