Announcement

**TWK.** · 9 Oct 2020, 06:49:51

**LipkiZ** · 9 Oct 2020, 08:05:08

ป้าลิซ่าออกมาพูดเมื่อวาน ผมว่าamdปิดฝาโลกตอกตะปูอินเทลไปแล้วนะ
แต่ราคา แม่งก็ปั่นซะ

**good11** · 9 Oct 2020, 09:38:00

**DesTorY21** · 9 Oct 2020, 10:50:27

แพ้ไปแล้ว

**taiseller** · 9 Oct 2020, 15:53:43

รอลุ้นอย่างห่วง ๆ ครับ
น่าสนใจหมากเกมนี้จริง ๆ

**good11** · 9 Oct 2020, 16:13:23

Intel 11th Gen Core "Coffin Lake-S" series

**ssk** · 18 Oct 2020, 10:24:10

ตามคดีคนหายหน่อย
มีคนหายสาบส่งไปจากห้อง INKALA ไปนานนับเดือนแล้ว
ให้แทงจำหน่าย PAINFUL DEATH เลยดีมั้ยครับ
จะได้ไปขอออกใบ ใบ้ละนะบัตร

1. ในเรื่องที่ผมปล่อยไก้ไว้ แล้ว บัก BUFLOW มันก็ไม่รู้ ไปเที่ยวเอา 1080TI มาเทสข่มผมอีก มันเป็นเรื่องที่ควรพูดในห้อง Graphic
แต่ผมจะเอามาพูดที่นี่จากเรื่อง XE- 8K ผมไม่รู้ว่า GPU สมัยใหม่ใช้เทคนิกแยกส่วน Encode-Decode VDO ออกมาเป็น Block แยกออกจาก Strem porcessor ไปนานแล้ว
ซึ่งเรื่องนี้ผมก็เพิ่งว่างมาดูสักพักนี่แหละ ผมก็ไม่รู้ตรงนี้จริงๆเหมือนกัน ตอนนั้นน่ะ
ซึ่งการที่มันมาพูดว่า ดูสิ 1080TI ยังทำงานหนัก ก็ใช่สิ DECODE ENGINE ตัวเดียวกัน มันก็เท่ากันตาม CLIP ที่เคยทำให้ดู ซึ่งมันไม่เกี่ยวกับ GPU PERFOMANCE ที่ต่างกันมากของ
1050TI > 1080TI ที่ผมกับมันใช้ แค่นี้มันยังไม่รู้ มันเป็นจานหมาลายใหนวะ? ถึงได้โง่โครตๆขนาดนี้ ไครเจอมันฝากถามด้วยละกัน ผมว่างจะมาดันเล่นเรื่อยๆ

NVIDIA Updates Video Encode and Decode Matrix with Reference to Ampere GPUs

by AleksandarK Friday, 15:31 Discuss (19 Comments)
NVIDIA has today updated its video encode and decode matrix with references to the latest Ampere GPU family. The video encode/decode matrix represents a table of supported video encoding and decoding standards on different NVIDIA GPUs. The matrix has a reference dating back to the Maxwell generation of NVIDIA graphics cards, showing what video codecs are supported by each generation. That is a useful tool for reference purposes, as customers can check if their existing or upcoming GPUs support a specific codec standard if they need any for video reproduction purposes. The update to the matrix comes in a form of Ampere GPUs, which are now present there.

For example, the table shows that, while supporting all of the previous generations of encoding standards, the Ampere based GPUs feature support for HEVC B Frame standard. For decoding purposes, the Ampere lineup now includes support for AV1 8-bit and 10-bit formats, while also supporting all of the previous generation formats. For a more detailed look at the table please go to NVIDIA's website here.

**ssk** · 19 Oct 2020, 17:06:48

บรรยายสรุปเหตุการณ์ ของคดีนี้นิดนึง เผื่อไครไม่ได้ดูภาค 1

เด็กเห่อขน ผู้ใหญ่เพิ่งหัดเล่นคอมเมื่อวานซืนก็แบบนี้แหละ ที่คิดว่าเงียบๆไปแล้วทุกอย่างจะผ่านไปน่ะ

พี่แวะมารอน้องที่ห้องนี้ทุกวันแหละ

**ssk** · 19 Oct 2020, 17:23:01

Intel Tiger Lake CPU and DG1 GPU Power New Asus VivoBook Flip 14

เอ๊ะ AMD ไปก๊อบ HIBRID Crossfire มาแน้นแน่เลย

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/in...flip-14-laptop

By Zhiye Liu 11 hours ago

The new dynamic duo.

VivoBook Flip 14 (TP470EZ) (Image credit: Asus)
Asus has revealed the new VivoBook Flip 14 (TP470EZ) laptop, bearing Intel's 11th Generation Tiger Lake processor and unreleased DG1 discrete graphics card (via @momomo_us).

According to the VivoBook Flip 14's product page, Asus has outfitted the device with "First Intel Discrete Graphics," which likely refers to Intel's DG1 discrete graphics card that is rumored to have up to 96 EUs. A quick dive into the HTML code shows metadata that reads, "VivoBook Flip 14 is powered by the latest Intel Core i7 processor with Intel Iris Xe Max graphics."

The Iris Xe Max had already surfaced before, with 96 EUs ticking up to 1.55 GHz. On another note, we've also seen two Xe GPUs running in a dual-GPU setup. Although unconfirmed, we have a theory that Tiger Lake iGPUs could conceptually function in tandem with DG1 to provide even greater performance than what a sole DG1 unit could offer.

The VivoBook Flip 14 comes with two Tiger Lake options: You can pick between the Core i7-1165G7 or Core i5-1135G7 processors. Both chips come with a quad-core, eight-thread configuration. The Core i7-1165G7 and Core i5-1135G7 have their own Iris Xe graphics engine. The 10nm processors possess 96 EUs and 80 EUs, respectively, with a maximum of 1.3 GHz.

The Core i7-1165G7 sports a 2.8 GHz base clock, 4.7 GHz boost clock, and 12MB of cache, while the Core i5-1135G features a 2.4 GHz base clock, 4.2 GHz boost clock, and 8MB of L3 cache. Out of the two, the Core i7-1165G7 is the only part that comes equipped with an Image Processing Unit (IPU).

The Tiger Lake processor of your choice can be accompanied by 8GB or 16GB of LPDDR4X-4266 memory. It's important to choose wisely since there won't be options for expansion further down the line. The VivoBook Flip 14 can come with a 128Gb, 256Gb, 512GB, or 1TB PCIe SSD. Asus offers an optional configuration with an Intel Optane Memory H10 drive with 32GB plus a 512GB SSD.

The VivoBook Flip 14 is a thin and light 2-in-1 device that measures 32.4 x 22 x 1.87cm (12.75 x 8.66 x 0.73 inches) and weighs 1.5kg (3.31 pounds). The laptop features an indie black exterior and a 14-inch LED-backlit panel with a Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution. The frameless NanoEdge display flaunts an impressive 82% screen-to-body ratio with wide viewing angles of 178 degrees. There was enough room for Asus to slap an HD webcam on the laptop too.

The svelte body doesn't mean the VivoBook Flip 14 is short on connectivity either. The laptop offers one Thunderbolt 4 USB-C port, one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port, one USB 2.0 port, an HDMI port, an audio jack, and a microSD card reader. There's no Ethernet port, though, so you'll be relying on a wireless connection. At any rate, you shouldn't have any complaints since the VivoBook Flip 14 can be configured with Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 5 with Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity.

Asus integrated a three-cell, lithium-polymer battery with a capacity of 42 Wh into the VivoBook Flip 14. It supports fast charging, and with the included 65W power adapter, the VivoBook Flip 14 can go from zero to 60% in a mere 49 minutes.

Asus hasn't revealed the pricing or availability of the VivoBook Flip 14.

ไม่ได้มามือเปล่า เนี่ยครับ สถาปัตยกรรมล้าหลัง ที่ให้ AMD ก๊อบไปใช้ก่อน ตั้งหลายปี ตั้งกะยุค FM-1 โน่นแนะ INTEL ใจดีส่งให้
ส่งให้ AMgoD ไปใช้ก่อนจะได้ไม่เจ๊งละมั้ง? Iris pro ที่ผลเทสจาก Notebook check ที่กระทืบ MX-350 ยังไม่ลงเลย มีดีแค่ AV-1 codec
ซ฿่งถ้าข่าวข้างบนผมให้ไว้ ถ้า VEGA+NAVI+GTX+RTX+MX ใส่ Codec core มามันก็ถอดได้ทุกตัว ดู GPU เรื่องแค่นี้มันจิ๊บจ๊อย
ไม่งั้นจะเทสเกม เทสงานกันไปทำไม แต่คนแถวนี้ยังครั่ง AV1 กันไม่หาย โลกนี้เค้าไปใช้ HDMI1-HDMI2 กันนานแล้วนะ

CPU ถูกๆ บอร์ดกากๆ แรมเขียว การ์ดจอตกรุ่นกากๆ มันถอดได้สบาย คนทำเค้าคิดไว้แล้ว
เรื่องที่มีได้แค่ขิงมันก็คือขิงเอาไว้โรยโจ๊กแก้เลี่ยนเฉยๆ น่ะนะ HW สมัยนี้แรงจริงๆ
คนละเรื่องกับตอน HEVC เข้ามาใหม่ๆเลย

**ssk** · 20 Oct 2020, 16:38:13

INTEL WILL NOT COMEBACK ไป 1 รายการ

SK hynix to Acquire Intel NAND Flash Memory Business for $9 Billion

ไงครับ INTEL SSD ที่ขายดีจนคนเค้าไม่สั่งมาขาย ตอนนี้กำลังจะเสร็จ SK-Hynix ตามข่าวนี้แล้วล่ะครับ

https://www.techpowerup.com/273566/s...-usd-9-billion

SK hynix and Intel today announced that they have signed an agreement on Oct. 20, KST, under which SK hynix would acquire Intel's NAND memory and storage business for US $9 billion. The transaction includes the NAND SSD business, the NAND component and wafer business, and the Dalian NAND memory manufacturing facility in China. Intel will retain its distinct Intel Optane business.

ตามนี้ครับ INTEL ตัดสินใจขายส่วนธุนกิจ NAND+SSD ทั้งหมดให้ SK hynix เหลือแค่ แผนก Optane เท่านั้นที่ยังอยู่

SK hynix and Intel will endeavor to obtain required governmental approvals expected in late 2021. Following receipt of these approvals, SK hynix will acquire from Intel the NAND SSD business (including NAND SSD-associated IP and employees), as well as the Dalian facility, with the first payment of US $7 billion. SK hynix will acquire from Intel the remaining assets, including IP related to the manufacture and design of NAND flash wafers, R&D employees, and the Dalian fab workforce, upon a final closing, expected to occur in March 2025 with the remaining payment of US $2 billion. Per the agreement, Intel will continue to manufacture NAND wafers at the Dalian Memory Manufacturing Facility and retain all IP related to the manufacture and design of NAND flash wafers until the final closing.

With this acquisition, SK hynix aims to enhance the competitiveness of its storage solutions, including enterprise SSDs, in the rapidly growing NAND flash space, and further aims to leap forward as one of the leading global semiconductor companies in the industry. SK hynix expects that the transaction would enable SK hynix to grow the memory ecosystem to the benefit of customers, partners, employees and shareholders.

As the global leader in the semiconductor industry, Intel possesses industry-leading NAND SSD technology and quadruple level cell (QLC) NAND flash products.
For the first six months ended June 27, 2020, the NAND businesses represented approximately US $2.8 billion of the revenue for Intel's Non-volatile Memory Solutions Group (NSG) and contributed approximately US $600 million to NSG operating income.

SK hynix developed the world's first Charge Trap Flash (CTF)-based, 96-layer 4D NAND flash in 2018 and 128-layer 4D NAND flash in 2019. SK hynix will combine Intel's solutions technology and manufacturing capability in order to establish a higher value-added 3D NAND solutions portfolio including enterprise SSDs.

Intel intends to invest transaction proceeds to deliver leadership products and advance its long-term growth priorities, including artificial intelligence, 5G networking and the intelligent, autonomous edge.

Intel and SK hynix will work together to ensure a seamless transition for customers, suppliers and employees. The two companies will work collaboratively as they did recently with DDR5, to better serve the growing demand from the memory-based semiconductor ecosystem.

"I am pleased to see SK hynix and Intel's NAND division, which have led the NAND flash technology innovation, work to build the new future together," said Seok-Hee Lee, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SK hynix. "By taking each other's strengths and technologies, SK hynix will proactively respond to various needs from customers and optimize our business structure, expanding our innovative portfolio in the NAND flash market segment, which will be comparable with what we achieved in DRAM."

Bob Swan, Intel CEO said, "I am proud of the NAND memory business we have built and believe this combination with SK hynix will grow the memory ecosystem for the benefit of customers, partners and employees. For Intel, this transaction will allow us to further prioritize our investments in differentiated technology where we can play a bigger role in the success of our customers and deliver attractive returns to our stockholders."

Bob Swan บอกว่า ปล่อยไปดีกว่า เพราะมันจะทำให้กิจการเติบโดได้ดีกว่าภายไต้ร่มธงของ SK Hynix ซึ่งตรงนี้เป็นอีกตัวนึงที่ทำให้
Bob Swan แกอยู่ยากขึ้นทุกวันในตำแหน่ง CEO INTEL จากความผิดพลาดมหัญที่ทำให้สาวกถึงกับหายสาบสูญไปจากที่นี่ทีเดียว
ว่างจะแวะเอามาให่ดูนะครับ

SK hynix will pay US $9 billion for the Intel NAND memory and storage business, which includes the NAND SSD business, the NAND component and wafer business, and the Dalian NAND memory manufacturing facility in China.
SK hynix aims to enhance the competitiveness of its NAND flash solutions as one of the leading global semiconductor companies and grow the memory ecosystem to the benefit of customers, partners, employees and shareholders.
Intel will retain its Intel Optane business and intends to invest transaction proceeds in long-term growth priorities.

ผมเคยบอกแล้วว่า SSD INKAK มันไม่เคยบนำไครก็ไม่เชื่อ แถมขายขาดทุน ขายพ่วง เพื่อระบาย OPTANE GEN-1 ด้วยซ้ำ ยังไม่นับ
ขายตัดราคากับ SAMSUNG WD แล้วมันจะรอดได้ยังไง ขนาดขายพ่วงกับ CPU ส่วนแบ่งยังตามหลังชาวบ้านเป็นทุ่ง แต่ถือว่าดีกว่า
Compute GPU ที่ต้อง EOL ไปก่อนปล่อยให้เขียว-แดง เดินเกมรุกตลาด DC อย่างต่อเนื่อง เพราะความห่วยของ NODE เทพ
ที่เสือกหลบให้ NODE กาก 10nm ก่อน จนต้องกราบตรีน TSMC อีก แถมผลจากกระทู้ XE แม่มยังกากจนฟัน MX-350 < PASCAL 1050 ไม่ลงอีก
ตลาด DC น่าจะเตรียมสูญพันธ์ เหลือแค่ XENON สารพัดสีนี่แหละ

อาจมี BUFLOW โผล่ออกมาได้ว่าฟันกำไร 9 พันล้าน แต่มันคือความพ่ายแพ้ย่อยยับในตลาด SSD เช่นเดียวกับโมเด็มนั่นแหละ
ยับขนาดต้องกราบตรีน MEDIATEK เลยทีเดียว

**ssk** · 20 Oct 2020, 17:01:30

Next product will painful death.
Habana

**ssk** · 22 Oct 2020, 11:25:48

AVX2 POWER !!!

Ryzen 5 5600X แรงกว่า Core i5-10600K ราว 35% ในการประมวลผล AVX2

ก่อนหน้านี้เราน่าจะเคยได้เห็นผลทดสอบของ Ryzen 9 5950X และ 5900X กันแล้ว คราวนี้เรามาดู Ryzen 5 5600X ก็บ้าง ว่าจะทำออกมาได้ดีสักแค่ไหน

สำหรับการทดสอบของ Ryzen 5 5600X นั้น พี่ตั้ม TUM_APISAK ได้นำมาจาก SiSoftware เ)นการทดสอบเกี่ยวกับ AVX2 (Multi-media test) พร้อมนำมาเทียบกับคู่แข่งอย่าง Intel Core i5-10600K

ผลปรากฏว่า Ryzen 5 5600X ทำคะแนนได้ดีกว่า Core i5-10600K ถึง 35% และเมื่อเทียบกับ Ryzen 5 3600X พบว่า 5600X ยังแรงกว่าถึง 44%

Ryzen 5 5600X เป็นซีพียูระดับกลาง มีแกนประมวลผล 6 Cores/12 Threads ความเร็วเริ่มต้น 3.7 GHz และบูสต์ได้สูงสุด 4.6 GH TDP 65W โดยทาง AMD ตั้งราคากลางไว้ที่ 299 ดอลลาร์ หรือประมาณ 9,350 บาท ไม่รวมภาษี และจะวางจำหน่ายวันที่ 5 พฤศจิกายนนี้ครับ

SO AVX512 F*** YOU!!!

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X beats the Intel Core i5-10600K by up to 35% in AVX2 Tests

As per the latest SiSoft benchmarks, AMD’s Ryzen 5 5600X is as much as 35% faster than the Intel Core i5-10600K in AVX2 benchmarks, namely the Sandra multi-media test. This isn’t all that surprising considering that Zen 3 is expected to feature an improved FP Execution engine while the 10th Gen lineup is just Skylake on steroids.

Source
Intel’s Skylake core can do three FMA per cycle while Zen 2 can execute up to four 256-bit instructions per cycle (2 MUL and 2 ADD). This means that Zen 3 can definitely do more than four AVX2 operations per cycle.

The Ryzen 5 5600X nearly catches up to the eight-core Ryzen 7 3800X in the AVX2 multi-media test which means Zen 3 indeed packs some serious FP performance upgrades. It won’t be long before we see the new Ryzen 5000 CPUs in action. Sampling starts this week and reviews should be out by the 5th of November.

INTEL leap To Disrupt Ahead

**ssk** · 22 Oct 2020, 11:35:45

เอามาให้อ่านเพิ่ม ขี้เกียจใส่ SUB ตามนี้ครับ นักวิเคราะห์บอกว่า ผลมันมาจากความห่วยของ Swan ที่ Grove คงอยากออกจากหลุมมาตบให้หัวทิ่ม
นักวิเคราะห็เคาพูดกันว่า SWAN แม่มกาก INTEL เจิงเข้าด้านกากมาเรื่อยๆจนถึงวันนี้ กากจนหน้าม้ายังหายหัวเลยทีเดียว คิดเอาละกันนะพี่น้อง

Opinion: How did Intel lose its Silicon Valley crown?
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ho...?siteid=yhoof2

Published: Oct. 17, 2020 at 9:18 a.m. ET
By
Therese Poletti

MARKETWATCH PHOTO ILLUSTRATION/GETTY IMAGES, ISTOCKPHOTO

Referenced Symbols

Intel Corp. is still the dominant provider of chips for personal computers and servers, but its reign as the chip king of Silicon Valley has ended, and the unresolved question is whether its woes stem from reaching the limits of technology, the people in charge or a mixture of both.

The chip giant announced a delay of at least six months in releasing new chips designed using its next generation 7-nanometer manufacturing process this summer, and disclosed a change that shocked longtime observers: Intel may work with a contract manufacturer to make some components of the first chip in the next generation, a graphics processor focused on the data center known as Ponte Vecchio. While Intel INTC, +0.13% already works with a foundry for about 20% of its chips, the idea that the largest chip processor would possibly farm out some of the manufacturing for one of its important next-generation chips was perceived by investors and industry analysts as a stunning fall for the standard-bearer of Moore’s Law.

“I think Andy Grove would probably be spinning in his grave,” said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst of Insight64, referring to the famously paranoid Intel co-founder and longtime chief executive. “He regarded the manufacturing group at Intel as the heart and soul of the company, so to see them flounder, especially with regards to new-process tech, that has never happened before.”

The delay in 7-nanometer process followed a nearly four-year delay on the company’s transition to its current manufacturing process, the 10-nanometer process. Intel has been offering intra-node advancements of its 10-nanometer process, with new technologies and software optimization and other changes to stay competitive with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., known as TSMC 2330, -0.33%, the world’s leading foundry for manufacturing semiconductors on a contract basis.

From July: Intel admits another defeat with unprecedented manufacturing issues

Intel’s prolonged descent allowed rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD, -2.89% to move ahead of Intel in the manufacturing process with its partner TSMC, a once unimaginable turn of events. At the same time, Nvidia Corp. NVDA, -0.88% has soared ahead of Intel in market value and made a bold $40 billion move to buy ARM Holdings PLC from SoftBank Group Corp. 9984, 0.30% 9984, 0.30% 9984, 0.30% which would propel the graphics chip maker into Intel’s core market for microprocessors.

Three months after the initial news of the delay, Intel has not given many more answers about its struggles, and analysts are still at odds about whether the company’s slip was due to the increased difficulty of fighting the laws of physics, company personnel issues, or some combination of both. The only thing that may be more of an unknown is where Intel goes from here.
Is Moore’s Law dead?

“One of the things...that we all know is that Moore’s Law has come to an end,” Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s co-founder and chief executive, said on a conference call to discuss the Arm deal last month.

Huang was referring to a prediction made in 1965 by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore that the number of transistors on a semiconductor would double every year, which he later revised in the mid-1970s to every two years. The bottom line of this prediction was that computers would become more powerful and less expensive, as part of that huge increase in transistors in the future, and it served as a guiding light for the semiconductor industry.

But now, the doubling of transistors, and the associated increase in computing power, has become more difficult, as engineers bump up against the laws of physics and the geometries of electronic transistors become increasingly minute, and not even visible with the human eye. It was Intel’s ability, like clockwork, to increase the amount of transistors on its chips, in its own manufacturing facilities, with every new generation of chips, that made its both the company and its chips more powerful with each new product line, at a pace of every two to two and a half years.
What the News Means for Your Money

More from Therese: The inside story of Gordon Moore and the pre-PC days of Silicon Valley

“Moore’s Law is alive and evolving,” an Intel spokeswoman said in an email, adding that even though it is taking longer in between nodes, intra-node advancements such as its SuperFin 3-D technology and specialized architectures for specific workloads, advanced packaging and software optimizations are helping. “We can continue to deliver the benefits of Moore’s Law well into the future,” she said.

If Moore’s Law is dead, someone should tell TSMC, which still seems to be moving along at a steady clip. It is already believed to be providing Apple Inc. AAPL, -0.54% with its custom-designed chips for the iPhone 12, which are based on the latest 5-nanometer process. At its iPhone 12 launch this month, Apple touted many new features in its four new models as based on its A14 bionic chip, calling it the first 5-nanometer based chip.The new iPhones will be available next month.

Some analysts believe that as investors pose the question about its manufacturing future, inside Intel there is a debate inside about whether or not it should go completely fabless and farm out its fabrication needs to TSMC to keep up with competitors and the fabled tech path its founder laid out.

“I believe that argument is going on inside the company, but I don’t have a sense if it’s going one way or the other,” said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. “But if you miss a stepping stone like this, it does force you to rethink how you are doing things.”

See also: Nvidia’s deal for Arm could mean a real challenge to Intel and AMD, but is likely to face opposition

Some of the issues may have begun in 2011, when Intel introduced a new technology into the chip manufacturing process, to create three dimensional transistors, as a way to continue Moore’s Law, and maintain its two-year cadence of introducing new technology generations, for the 22-nanometer lithography process. But this technology change may have been trickier to scale further down the line, because a 3-D stack of transistors is taller and more fragile. When Intel moved to 14 nanometers, things started to slow. Chips based on the 14-nanometer process took three years instead of two. The company also began to introduce other innovations in new materials, such as cobalt.

With the 10-nanometer process, things slowed even further. Intel launched a chip called Cannon Lake based on the 10-nanometer process in 2018, after it was originally planned for 2016. But the first iteration was disappointing and short-lived. The big volume product is expected with its new Tiger Lake processor for PCs due at the end of this year. Intel officially unveiled Tiger Lake at a virtual product launch in September. The 11th generation chip will also include an integrated graphics processor and Intel said the chip is four times faster than the competition on common tasks such as photo uploading and 20% faster on productivity applications like Word and PowerPoint.

“Intel may have put too many things into the 14-nanometer and 10-nanometer process increments,” said Brookwood of Insight 64. “When you have that many variables, and something is not right, fixing it is a non-trivial problem.”

Despite these issues, Intel is still plowing billions into its fabs. This October marked 40 years of manufacturing operations in Ocotillo, Ariz., and it celebrated that anniversary with a multibillion expansion of its fab there, culminating in a $7 billion investment. The fab created 3,000 Intel jobs. Intel said it has invested about $23 billion in its factories in Arizona, and it is also expanding its facilities in Oregon, Ireland and Israel and investing in New Mexico, for an advanced memory facility.

“My team and I are committed to doing what is necessary to deliver a predictable cadence of leadership products for our customers,” wrote Keyvan Esfarjani, who in July was named corporate vice president and general manager, manufacturing and operations in a blog post in mid September. Esfarjani replaced Ann Kelleher, an Intel senior vice president, as leading manufacturing, while Kelleher was promoted to leading technology development, focusing on the development teams working on the 7-nanometer and 5-nanometer processes, in a management shake-up that claimed Murthy Renduchintala, just a few days after its July bombshell.

But while Intel is talking about innovations and tweaks to keep Moore’s Law alive, the bottom line is that it’s getting increasingly difficult.

“The challenge is that as Intel is maturing 10 [nanometer process], you have TSMC going to 5 [nanometer process], where they have lost the density game,” said Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy. “How they got there is up for debate, but putting all the technical gobbledy gook aside, they took some big risks on 10-nanometer to get even denser, and it didn’t pan out.”
Tumult in the executive suite

If Moore’s Law is still alive, could the problem be inside Intel, or possibly with some of those executives who have now left the company? The man overseeing the new structure, CEO Bob Swan, could be the one to push toward a solution that would be outside the company’s comfort zone, since he is not an Intel old-timer, and coming in as Intel’s former CFO, not as an engineer.

“Intel giving up the fabs is a bridge too far for the older boys,” Enderle said. “If they have a CEO who could make that decision, Bob is one who could make that better than anyone else because he is not an old Intel guy.”

Swan came to the company in 2016 as chief financial officer, joining from General Atlantic, a growth equity investor after serving as the CFO of eBay Inc. EBAY, -2.54% for nine years. He was named CEO of Intel in early 2019 after serving as interim CEO when Brian Krzanich stepped down after the board learned he had a relationship with an Intel employee against company policy.

Read more about Swan’s appointment

It was under Krzanich, who moved up from the manufacturing side of the company, that Intel began to start missing some of its manufacturing milestones. Krzanich, who became CEO in May, 2013, undertook Intel’s biggest layoffs in a decade, cutting 12,000 jobs in April 2016, 11% of its workforce, as it refocused its business around data-centric and cloud computing.

Leadership issues may have begun even before the big layoffs and Krzanich’s abrupt resignation, however.

“For the longest time, Intel’s big advantage was the ability to manage an R&D team,” said Dan Hutcheson, president of VLSI Research. “They were the best at that, maybe IBM IBM, -1.96% too, but there was nothing in Asia that came close.”

Hutcheson noted that the retirement of manufacturing chief Bill Holt in 2016, and followed three years later by former senior fellow and director of process architecture Mark Bohr in 2019, may have created vacuums in the absence of longtime leadership roles, and instead some may have been focused on the machinations inside Intel, not on customers.

At the time of his retirement, Bohr told The Oregonian, “We kind of overshot, I think, with our 10 nanometer technology,” adding that Intel was “too aggressive” in its goals of packing transistors on its semiconductor wafers.

“We have a strong bench of technical talent at Intel. We’ve continued to invest and innovate to deliver leadership products,” Intel’s spokeswoman said. She pointed out how Intel is advancing its 10-nanometer process with its new Superfin technology, which is contributing nearly a node-sized advance in performance, which will be in the new Tiger Lake family.

The abrupt resignation of Jim Keller, a microprocessor guru earlier this year, who has worked at AMD, Apple and Tesla Inc. TSLA, +0.16% , after just two years at Intel also raised some eyebrows. One of the class-action lawsuits against Intel contends that Keller was pushing for Intel to do more manufacturing with foundries in order to be more competitive, but no source was cited for this statement. Intel at the time said that Keller was resigning due to personal reasons.

A few weeks after Keller’s resignation, Apple announced at its virtual developer conference that it would be breaking up with Intel as its long-term microprocessor partner, after a 15 year relationship. In a two-year transition period, Apple will move the Mac over to custom-designed ARM-based chips.
How does Intel move forward?

Longtime industry analysts could not point to a single event or person that led to Intel’s current situation, but a combination of failed process and inadequate leaders. Daniel Newman, principal analyst with Futurum Research summed it up succinctly. “It was clearly a people and tech problem,” he said.

Whatever the root cause of the issues, Intel is now at a major crossroads. Already, its delays are having ramifications. In late August, the New York Times reported that Intel’s delays with its 10-nanometer technology could delay the $500 million supercomputer, called Aurora, one that counts Intel among its major tech providers. On top of a possible delay, the possibility that Intel may have some parts of the chipset manufactured by TSMC will also dash the hopes of a project with all American products. Intel said that beyond Aurora, it has a long-term deal with the Energy Department to further support the U.S. leadership in advanced computing systems.

From 2018: Why AMD believes it can challenge Intel in servers

Brookwood noted that Intel has gone through major shifts in its strategies in its past, especially when Grove was CEO, but was unsure if Swan could navigate the same treacherous waters as his legendary predecessor.

“A couple of weeks ago, I was thinking about Andy Grove and how he got them out of the memory business, because they just couldn’t compete with the Japanese,” Brookwood said. “I could see how someone with Andy Grove’s vision today could look at Intel and say, ‘you know, the manufacturing part of what we do has become a commodity, and the TSMCs and Samsungs can do it better than us. Maybe it is time for Intel to get out of manufacturing entirely and focus on what we know we do well’....But they need someone to have Andy Grove’s insight and business judgment and I don’t know if Bob Swan is that guy.”

Bernstein Research analyst Stacy Rasgon said it was difficult to envision the impact on Intel if it began contracting out its manufacturing on a larger scale. Rasgon said in an interview that Intel will probably never get rid of all of its plants, but it needs to pursue a sort of dual-pronged strategy, of contracting out more parts.

“They have to pursue both options. If they want to get first products in 2023, they have to place orders at TSMC by end of 2021.” Analysts may ask for more details on the alternative plans during Intel’s third quarter earnings call later this month.

Intel indeed has a massive manufacturing footprint and expenditures that employs thousands around the world. In July, Intel said it would spend $15 billion on capital expenditures this year.

Perhaps the answer will be scaling down of some manufacturing in the future, as Swan hinted at in an op-ed piece for USA Today.

“Forty years from now, how and what Intel manufactures may look quite different,” he wrote. “But what won’t change is our belief in the power of technology to enrich lives and our relentless effort to provide the technology foundation for the world’s innovation.”

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