Intel’s CEO, Pat Gelsinger, expressed the company’s ambition to reclaim its status as the top chipmaker globally, following the ascent of competitors TSMC and Samsung in recent years. Speaking to CNBC during the Computex tech conference in Taipei on Tuesday, Gelsinger outlined Intel’s strategy, stating, “We want to build everybody’s chips, everybody’s AI chips. We want them to be built leveraging the U.S. factories.” This statement underscores Intel’s commitment to expanding its chip manufacturing capabilities and positioning itself as a leading provider of AI chips while leveraging its domestic manufacturing facilities.
Intel aims to revitalize its struggling foundry business, which recorded a widened operating loss of $7 billion in 2023 compared to the previous year. As of May 22, according to a Counterpoint Research report, Intel does not rank among the top six foundries by revenue. The company held the title of the world’s largest chipmaker until 2017, when Samsung Electronics surpassed it in revenue. Subsequently, in 2023, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company reportedly overtook Samsung to claim the position of the world’s largest foundry by revenue. “The first piece is to get back to leadership because a lot of the losses are associated with having uncompetitive process technology,” stated Gelsinger.
Intel anticipates benefiting from up to $8.5 billion in funding from the Biden administration under the CHIPS and Science Act, with an additional potential allocation of $11 billion. This funding is expected to facilitate Intel’s advancement in semiconductor manufacturing and research and development endeavors. According to Gelsinger, “The capital is critical. And what we said is that we have to have economic competitiveness if we’re going to build these factories in the U.S. and that’s what the CHIPS Act has done. It’s created a level playing field if I were building a factory in Asia versus U.S.”
In addition to chip design, Intel aims to narrow the gap with Nvidia and AMD, having been relatively passive during the AI boom, where major players like Meta, Microsoft, and Google aggressively acquired Nvidia chips. At the Computex tech conference in Taipei, Gelsinger introduced the new Xeon 6 processor for data centers, boasting enhanced performance and power efficiency compared to its predecessor.
Gelsinger remarked, ‘Xeon 6 was a significant leap forward in our competitiveness, enabling us not only to retain our market share but also to recapture some of the lost opportunities.’ He further emphasized, ‘As we progress towards regaining process leadership in chip manufacturing, we anticipate significantly improved profitability as well.’
