By Bolaji Ojo, EETimes (July 28, 2020)
Intel Corp. dropped the ball. It should today be the world’s biggest semiconductor foundry; not TSMC. This can still change but it will require a radically different vision and strategy completely at odds with what CEO Bob Swan outlined last week. The board of directors will also need to intervene.
An Intel with the right vision should be aiming for TSMC’s wafer foundry crown. An Intel with the right backbone should not be whining about having fallen one or two process technology behind TSMC. It should get back on the horse, mobilize and rearm its engineering workforce and assure investors it has what it takes to restore its technology leadership.
An Intel with the right vision should stop trying to be all things to everyone, promising and striving to deliver products for the data, networking, automotive, AI, etc. markets. Instead, it should remember its founders once abandoned the DRAM market. It should keep the bread-and-butter microprocessor business but open its fabs to everyone.