News Intel CEO Pins CPU Shortage on the Company's Aggression

[Admin]

Intel CEO Robert Swan said at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference that the company's decision to be overly aggressive contributed to its CPU shortage.

Intel CEO Pins CPU Shortage on the Company's Aggression : Read more

 

[bigdragon]

Intel has provided so many explanations for their chip shortages, security lapses, and process problems that it appears they're searching for an excuse that will stick. This is the sort of behavior that indicates an upper-level management problem. Intel's board has some house cleaning to do.

 

[bit_user]

Intel CEO Robert Swan discussed one more factor in list of reasons for the 10nm delay

The one he didn't discuss was prior cost-cutting measures, including layoffs of senior technical staff who'd been working on semiconductor fabrication technology, their entire career.

I heard from an ex-Intel employee that some outside firm was brought in to figure out who to fire, and they settled on getting rid of everyone who hadn't recently gotten raises or promotions - both things that become less common as you progress in your career. As a result, they lost a lot of expertise in the heads of folks who were competent and did nothing wrong, even if they weren't on the fast track up the corporate ladder. Indeed, some of the most valuable contributions come from engineers just keeping their heads down and quietly doing their jobs.

He closed by describing Intel as a kleptocracy, with the executives focusing on ways to gin up revenue with minimal real investment. If true, such a trainwreck should've been utterly unsurprising.