Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)’s new CEO Brian Krzanich admitted in the recent annual shareholder meeting that the company was slow to the mobile market. However he committed to improve by advancing chip and manufacturing technologies.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), the world’s largest semiconductor company both in terms of revenue and valuation, maintains a near monopoly position in the PC and server microprocessor industry.
However Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) has to confront a few challenges such as dwindling PC sales and underutilization of its manufacturing facilities, which affected its recent quarterly results.
In his first speech as Intel CEO, Brian emphasized that the company’s major focus is to produce more power-efficient chips, as it also adds features for connectivity and security.
Under the previous CEO Paul Otellini’s tenure, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) was late to the mobile market. This slow response gave processor designer ARM an insurmountable lead.
Intel’s poor performance in the mobile market is evident as ARM’s processors are used in most smartphones and tables, while Intel’s Atom chips are used in just 12 smartphones and 15 tablets.
Quoting industry observers, Financial Times today reported that the main challenge for the new CEO would be to change over 100,000 Intel employees’ mindset, who have seen the company’s success built hovering the personal computer.
Brian Krzanich’s predecessor pushed new variants of mobile computing through thin-and-light ultrabooks and convertible tablet/PCs, though these are yet to garner enough customer mindshare.
Some of the new initiatives to demonstrate Intel’s thinking outside the PC box include a set-top box offering a nationwide TV service in the US later this year.
Besides chips based on the recently announced Silvermont architecture will be Intel’s next step in Atom development. Intel is expected to produce new generation Silvermont chips for mobile devices on 22nm during late 2013.
The new CEO indicated that Silvermont is one of the biggest chip architecture advances in Intel’s history. Chips based on Silvermont are expected to be three times faster and five times more power efficient than their predecessors. The roster of upcoming Silvermont-based Atom chips includes Bay Trail, which are expected to be in tablets late this year, and Merrifield, which is expected to be used in smartphones in the first half of next year.
Outlining Intel’s mobile strategy further, Brian Krzanich indicated that Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) will also integrate LTE into Atom chips, which would act as a booster for the mobile business. Intel would leverage its 2010 acquisition of Infineon’s wireless assets to offer the LTE chips.
Major Intel’s competitors like QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) and Texas Instruments Incorporated (NASDAQ:TXN) have been reaping the gains from the mobile boom. With its thrust in the mobile strategy, Intel has been steadily closing the gap in its mobile chips portfolio. Intel’s 32 nm “Clovertrail +” chips are already winning plaudits for performance in the few mobile devices which support Intel processors.
