Intel manufacturing decision may be delayed - Gelsinger wants to beat Apple

One of the biggest surprises last week was Intel's appointment of Pat Gelsinger as its new CEO. Effective February 15, Intel will once again be headed by an engineer and not a numbers guy. Many have high hopes that Gelsinger can steer the chip giant back to the right direction. There's a general sense that Intel has lost its leadership position over the past couple of years and there are doubts about the future direction of the firm.

First Intel got hit by the 10nm debacle, then it got caught blindsided by AMD's Zen architecture, later the 7nm process turned out to be a bust too, and more recently Apple showed that a well-pocketed newcomer can deal a severe blow to the dominance of x86.

Even though Bob Swan remains the CEO of Intel until mid-February, Gelsinger is wasting no time and has already addressed Intel's workforce in an all-hands meeting. Intel previously said it would announce new strategic decisions for its manufacturing situation on January 21st, together with its fourth quarter earnings report. However, with new leadership coming in, this decision may be delayed. ExtremeTech reports it may become Gelsinger's problem to fix, which makes sense as it's a rather major decision that could reshape the future of Intel.

Gelsinger is reportedly taking the threat of Apple seriously and has urged Intel employees that they must do better than "a lifestyle company":

Intel is taking the threat of Apple’s M1 very seriously. Gelsinger is said to have told employees, “We have to deliver better products to the PC ecosystem than any possible thing that a lifestyle company in Cupertino [makes]. We have to be that good, in the future.”