Intel tops Q3 estimates

[witeken]

Intel basically admitted that they're significantly scaling back their mobile efforts on the call. It's subtle but it's there.

Yeah, now that you say that. I guess you mean that they said they mainly focus on their 2 partnerships. Maybe they even cancelled Broxton and are working on Core for smartphone. The ISP on SKL was probably just the beginning.

 

[CHADBOGA]

Intel basically admitted that they're significantly scaling back their mobile efforts on the call. It's subtle but it's there.

It is amazing how badly Intel have done on Mobile.

When Otellini resigned, he did a Mea Culpa about not understanding how big mobile was going to be and it seemed like Intel had realised their mistake, but quite clearly they still either have had the wrong people and/or wrong ideas about what is needed to succeed in mobile for many years now.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Yeah, now that you say that. I guess you mean that they said they mainly focus on their 2 partnerships. Maybe they even cancelled Broxton and are working on Core for smartphone. The ISP on SKL was probably just the beginning.

Yep, they're aiming for standalone modems + partnerships for the bulk of the market. Obviously they still need to develop IP to support those future projects, but it's far less ambitious than their prior plans.

 

[ShintaiDK]

As a little offtopic, Sandisk may be bought by Western Digital and Micron.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/13/us-sandisk-m-a-micron-tech-idUSKCN0S72QL20151013

Everyone is consolidating fast now. No room for small players.

 

[jpiniero]

Yeah, now that you say that. I guess you mean that they said they mainly focus on their 2 partnerships. Maybe they even cancelled Broxton and are working on Core for smartphone. The ISP on SKL was probably just the beginning.

Seems unlikely that they can get Core prices in smartphones though.

That Moore's Law radio would be kind of nice now.

 

[witeken]

Yep, they're aiming for standalone modems + partnerships for the bulk of the market. Obviously they still need to develop IP to support those future projects, but it's far less ambitious than their prior plans.

They're experiencing the pain everyone else has trying the enter the lucrative data center.

The difference being however that you'd rather wanna have a 15% growing data center than a mature and consolidated smartphone market (unless you're Apple, sucking endless loads of money out of your iSheeps with every generation).

 

[ShintaiDK]

Seems unlikely that they can get Core prices in smartphones though.

That Moore's Law radio would be kind of nice now.

Core chips in tablets/2in1 seems to work well tho.

 

[Arachnotronic]

It is amazing how badly Intel have done on Mobile.

When Otellini resigned, he did a Mea Culpa about not understanding how big mobile was going to be and it seemed like Intel had realised their mistake, but quite clearly they still either have had the wrong people and/or wrong ideas about what is needed to succeed in mobile for many years now.

I agree with this. I look forward to seeing what Intel says at its investor meeting regarding mobile. Hopefully they cut back on the videos of their partners extolling the virtues of Intel sounding like they are reading from cue cards and talk more about their actual strategy, esp. with respect to the chip side of things, and the progress they are making with winning designs at OEMs.

 

[NTMBK]

Seems unlikely that they can get Core prices in smartphones though.

That Moore's Law radio would be kind of nice now.

Hell, Moore's Law CPUs would be nice.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Core chips in tablets/2in1 seems to work well tho.

They're still selling what amounts to a PC chip shoehorned into a tablet. Separate PCH on an n-1 or n-2 process, for example, is clearly sub-optimal for this market.

 

[dark zero]

The only way Intel can sell a Core in a phone is creating along MS an IPhone clone with FULL Windows 10 with Continuum

 

[mrmt]

Yep, they're aiming for standalone modems + partnerships for the bulk of the market. Obviously they still need to develop IP to support those future projects, but it's far less ambitious than their prior plans.

The writing was already on the wall since Intel decided to open their foundry to other mobile companies. That they decided to scale back their mobile efforts is shocking.

 

[Phynaz]

Good quarter for Intel, with them gaining traction on other markets offsetting shrinking sales on clients.

I expect another bloodbath quarter for AMD.

Same old, same old. Intel excels, AMD sinks.

 

[Kuiva maa]

It is amazing how badly Intel have done on Mobile.

When Otellini resigned, he did a Mea Culpa about not understanding how big mobile was going to be and it seemed like Intel had realised their mistake, but quite clearly they still either have had the wrong people and/or wrong ideas about what is needed to succeed in mobile for many years now.

Instead of burning money trying to push x86 on phones, they should have gone ARM, purchase nvidia and leverage their world leading fabs to offer the best all around mobile chips. Getting x86 to phones is a fool's errand, that ship sailed the moment they turned the iPhone deal down, around 10 years ago.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The writing was already on the wall since Intel decided to open their foundry to other mobile companies. That they decided to scale back their mobile efforts is shocking.

Could Intel transform into a bigger foundry than TSMC and Samsung, and end up the biggest ARM mfg, if x86 loses its grip on the market (due to a decline in the relevance of Win10 as a desktop OS - who needs Windows if you don't even need a desktop)?

 

[Arachnotronic]

Could Intel transform into a bigger foundry than TSMC and Samsung, and end up the biggest ARM mfg, if x86 loses its grip on the market (due to a decline in the relevance of Win10 as a desktop OS - who needs Windows if you don't even need a desktop)?

Doubt it.

 

[mrmt]

Could Intel transform into a bigger foundry than TSMC and Samsung, and end up the biggest ARM mfg, if x86 loses its grip on the market (due to a decline in the relevance of Win10 as a desktop OS - who needs Windows if you don't even need a desktop)?

Intel doesn't have TSMC foundry expertise, but they certainly have enough resources to develop it in the long term, but short term there's something more relevant.

By reviewing Intel financial statements it seems that 14nm is still in bad shape, there are lots of mentions of high levels of defects and higher platform costs because of 14nm chips, it seems that 14nm won't be the cost-killer node that it was meant to be, and given that 10nm is shaping up to be leveraging a lot on 14nm ideas, I doubt that it will fare much better on the mobile market (maybe this is the reason behind Intel scaling back mobile efforts). That leaves the decisive dice rolls for 7nm, and that will be a game for the end of the decade.

 

[VirtualLarry]

As a little offtopic, Sandisk may be bought by Western Digital and Micron.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/13/us-sandisk-m-a-micron-tech-idUSKCN0S72QL20151013

Everyone is consolidating fast now. No room for small players.

Whos NAND is Sandisk currently using? Don't they have a joint fab with Toshiba?

 

[erunion]

Seems unlikely that they can get Core prices in smartphones though.

That Moore's Law radio would be kind of nice now.

They don't need to get Core prices on phones.

Core sales into phone won't (directly) effect the pricing on PC chips. So they can price phone versions lower. Even if they sell Phone versions at reduced margins versus PC versions, its still a net benefit.

 

[CHADBOGA]

I agree with this. I look forward to seeing what Intel says at its investor meeting regarding mobile. Hopefully they cut back on the videos of their partners extolling the virtues of Intel sounding like they are reading from cue cards and talk more about their actual strategy, esp. with respect to the chip side of things, and the progress they are making with winning designs at OEMs.

Mike Bell was suppose to be the Mobile Guru who would lead Intel out of the wilderness on Mobile, yet they announced last qtr that he is "retiring".

And they don't appear to have brought in anyone else that has a proven track record in the Mobile sector. D:

 

[Arachnotronic]

Mike Bell was suppose to be the Mobile Guru who would lead Intel out of the wilderness on Mobile, yet they announced last qtr that he is "retiring".

And they don't appear to have brought in anyone else that has a proven track record in the Mobile sector. D:

Both Mike Bell and Hermann Eul "retired." Before Mike Bell retired, he was moved off of mobile and put in charge of Intel's "new devices" group.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Intel doesn't have TSMC foundry expertise, but they certainly have enough resources to develop it in the long term, but short term there's something more relevant.

By reviewing Intel financial statements it seems that 14nm is still in bad shape, there are lots of mentions of high levels of defects and higher platform costs because of 14nm chips, it seems that 14nm won't be the cost-killer node that it was meant to be, and given that 10nm is shaping up to be leveraging a lot on 14nm ideas, I doubt that it will fare much better on the mobile market (maybe this is the reason behind Intel scaling back mobile efforts). That leaves the decisive dice rolls for 7nm, and that will be a game for the end of the decade.

Yea, a couple of years ago, I though Intel might be able to design such an overwhelmingly superior chip on 14nm that they could get a real foothold mobile, even though they had a late start. Unfortunately, they got delay after delay, poor yields still apparently, and underwhelming improvements in the products that did appear. What a waste.

Too bad they didnt burn all that money on improving mainstream/enthusiast performance. I know I am going to get the "average joe", "99% dont need it", etc. But tell me this, could it have turned out any worse than their mobile efforts? It might have been a limited market, but at least are good at it when they decide to put forth any effort.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Too bad they didnt burn all that money on improving mainstream/enthusiast performance. I know I am going to get the "average joe", "99% dont need it", etc. But tell me this, could it have turned out any worse than their mobile efforts? It might have been a limited market, but at least are good at it when they decide to put forth any effort.

You seem to be under this impression that these are related. Intel already spends a TON on its PC processor/CPU core development to the point where, frankly, incremental spending isn't likely to do the company's products much good.

 

[Phynaz]

Yea, a couple of years ago, I though Intel might be able to design such an overwhelmingly superior chip on 14nm that they could get a real foothold mobile, even though they had a late start. Unfortunately, they got delay after delay, poor yields still apparently, and underwhelming improvements in the products that did appear. What a waste.

Too bad they didnt burn all that money on improving mainstream/enthusiast performance. I know I am going to get the "average joe", "99% dont need it", etc. But tell me this, could it have turned out any worse than their mobile efforts? It might have been a limited market, but at least are good at it when they decide to put forth any effort.

To what end? What additional sales does that get them vs entering new markets?

 

[frozentundra123456]

You mean those new markets where they lose money on every chip they sell? I guess they hope to make up for it in volume.

And all you have to do is read these forums to know there *is* a market itching to upgrade if the improved performance warranted it. It may be small, but is probably larger than the market that wants to buy atom in a phone.