After being overtaken by rivals TSMC and Samsung in recent years, Intel wants to regain its position as the world’s leading chipmaker, CEO Pat Kelsinger said.
“We want to make everyone’s chips, everyone’s AI chips. We want them to be built to power American factories,” Kelsinger told CNBC on the sidelines of the Computex technology conference in Taipei on Tuesday.
Intel is also seeking to boost its struggling foundry business, which posted a $7 billion operating loss in 2023 that would widen from a year earlier. It is currently not among the top six foundries in terms of revenue, a step Counterpoint Research Report On May 22.
The company was the world’s largest chipmaker until 2017 when Samsung Electronics surpassed it by revenue. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Overtaking Samsung in 2023 To become the world’s largest foundry by revenue.
“The first part is to get back to leadership, because a lot of the losses are related to non-competitive process technology,” Kelsinger said.
The $8.5 billion in CHIPS and Science Act funding from the Biden administration, along with another $11 billion, is expected to help Intel advance its semiconductor manufacturing and research and development.
“Capital is very important. And what we said is, if we’re going to build these factories in the U.S., we have to have economic competitiveness, and that’s what the CHIPS Act has done. If I build a building, it creates a balance. America versus a factory in Asia,” Kelsinger said.
Intel, which also designs the chips, is looking to catch up to Nvidia and AMD after being on the sidelines of the AI frenzy that saw tech giants Meta, Microsoft and Google buy several Nvidia chips.
During the Computex technology conference in Taipei on Tuesday, Gelsinger unveiled a new Xeon 6 processor for data centers with improved performance and energy efficiency compared to its predecessor.
“The Xeon 6 was a big step forward in our competitiveness, not only retaining our market, but regaining some of the market share opportunities we lost,” Kelsinger said.
“When we get through it and come back [chip manufacturing] Process leadership, we will also get better profits,” he added.
China remains an essential market for most U.S. chipmakers, including Intel, despite Washington’s efforts to limit chip sales to the country and Beijing’s push to reduce foreign dependence in the semiconductor industry.
“China is a big market for Intel today, and we’re investing to be a big market for Intel tomorrow,” Kelsinger said.
“As I like to say, go carefully, make products, make sure we obey the laws of both countries, but then make mandatory products.”
US chip giants Intel, Broadcom, Qualcomm and Marvell Technology all generate more revenue from China than from the US, data from S&P Global compiled in March showed.
