A sitting U.S. president should only stick his nose into the management and ethics of publicly traded industry leaders under national security interests. Unfortunately, while suggesting national security implications related to Intel’s CEO, this particular U.S. president has too many other illegitimate reasons to open his mouth.
By Bolaji Ojo
The story of Intel Corp. is one of American ingenuity sullied by a stubborn combination of naivety and obtuseness at the top. The company’s troubles didn’t emerge out of nowhere. The coincidence brewed of technology and innovations shifts aren’t at play here. Rather, Intel is in the muck it has sunk into today because it couldn’t escape its shiny legacy.
While Craig Barrett, Intel’s CEO from 1998 to 2005 and chairman through 2009, is often lauded for presiding over strong profits and technological advances, it’s time to confront the inconvenient truth: Barrett cannot wash his hands of the mess that Intel has now become. He helped lay its foundations, missed seismic shifts in the semiconductor industry, and imposed strategic inertia that successive CEOs failed to overcome.
Barrett’s tenure coincided with extraordinary shifts in the global electronics landscape, the very sort that demands radical leadership. Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, the rise of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) reshaped the competitive terrain, as it steadily built an empire in contract chipmaking (foundry services) for a new wave of fabless semiconductor companies. Meanwhile, the mainstreaming of mobile devices signaled the decline of the personal computer as the centerpiece of consumer electronics.
Yet, instead of steering Intel towards these growing markets, Barrett and his lieutenants doubled down on PC-centric strategies. Intel’s world-class fabrication facilities, which were once envied by rivals for their scale and capability, remained closed off to outsiders. The “Intel Inside” mantra was a badge of pride, but also a mask for missed opportunities. Intel made massive investments in communications businesses, running into billions of dollars, but failed to turn these into outstanding successes or footholds in fast-growing markets.
Read More »Craig Barrett’s Intel Faux Pas
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake: Artificial Intelligence has raised semiconductors to a height unimagined only a few years ago, but as chipmakers rocket to the top of the global equity markets, the burning questions come up: How long will this stratospheric rise continue; what happens when demand for AI chips stalls and what should semiconductor suppliers do to stay relevant in the new economy?
Nvidia Corp.’s drastic rise to become the world’s most valuable publicly traded company is emblematic of a seismic shift: AI chips have ascended to the position of “the new oil,” powering a sprawling ecosystem of generative AI, big data analytics, and automation. But the questions gnawing at everyone aren’t being answered now because most people don’t yet want to examine how long this AI-fueled semiconductor surge will last, the extent of changes taking place in the market’s trajectory, and what could trigger a change in direction.
Many semiconductor industry executives appear ready to weigh in on how their companies are reshaping the dynamics of the global economy, though. At Nvidia’s latest developers’ conference, Jensen Huang, founder and CEO, addressed thousands of developers and industry leaders on the gravity of what his company helped catalyze.
“We are witnessing the dawn of a new industrial revolution,” Huang said. “an AI-driven era that’s being built on silicon.” That’s difficult to dispute. Today, Nvidia is not just a tech giant. It is the giant everyone must beat to stand out. With a market capitalization that has soared past Apple’s and Microsoft’s, the firm now stands as the world’s most valuable public company, its fortunes singularly tied to the voracious appetite for artificial intelligence chips.
Yet, the questions about AI’s validity and future keep coming up. How long will the insatiable demand for AI chips last? Could we be overestimating AI’s transformative power, or, conversely, underestimating the deep dependence the global economy is developing on its silicon backbone?
Read More »AI is Nowhere Near its Zenith, but Fears Persist
The idea of an autonomous, driverless future has been a core part of Tesla’s mystique, and its business plan. The lesson from the recent verdict against Tesla is not about the limits of driver-assistance technology, but about the hazards of stretching truth in pursuit of hype.
TSMC’s fab strategy rejects the gambler’s approach. By expanding capacity only for firm, long-term customer commitments, it ensures that its vast, capital-hungry plants stay full and profitable. Notwithstanding geopolitical pressures, this is not the time to change this recipe.
Is America warming up to giving China greater access to advanced technology products, including the latest AI chips, or is the government having a mood swing that can quickly reverse?
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake: The stakes for power semiconductor makers in the Edge AI market are immense, encompassing billions of dollars in potential revenue, leadership in technological innovation, and a pivotal role in shaping the future of intelligent, energy-efficient devices. Those who can deliver the most advanced, dependable, and sustainable solutions stand to define the next era of electronics.
Artificial intelligence has rapidly evolved from a futuristic concept to a transformative force reshaping every sector of the global economy. But while much of the early excitement around AI centered on massive data centers and cloud-based supercomputers, the focus in recent years has shifted toward the “edge,” the network’s frontier, where data is generated and decisions must be made instantly.
Edge AI, which refers to the deployment of AI models on local devices rather than in distant clouds, is favored to drive everything from smart cameras and autonomous vehicles to industrial robots and wearable health monitors. As the intelligence of these devices grows, however, so too does the complexity of their power requirements. The race is on among semiconductor manufacturers, device makers, and system integrators to deliver energy-efficient, high-performance solutions that will define the next era of intelligent technology.
Read More »Edge AI Hangs on Power: Can Chipmakers Meet Up?
Three companies currently dominate the EDA world, but some startups armed with AI are pushing in, creating unprecedented opportunities to challenge the established order.
By Bolaji Ojo
To Nvidia Corp. CEO Jensen Huang, all his company needs to wallop Chinese AI competitors and remain dominant in the communist nation is for America to remove restrictions on the shipment of advanced technologies to China.
He is wrong. Current American sales policy is not the biggest obstacle to the growth of Nvidia’s market share in China. Although Washington has slapped repeated restrictions on the export of advanced technologies to many competing nations, including China, the mere lifting of these sanctions will only exacerbate the challenges facing foreign tech companies in the country.
A deep dive into the dynamics of global commerce, military and geopolitical rivalries among the world’s leading national players will reveal a more complex portrait than can be explained by the simple narratives emerging from the current focus by analysts, industry executives and observers on export restrictions, tariffs and the imposition of stringent rules and regulations.
Read More »Nvidia Set to Step Into China’s Tech-Transfer Trap
By Bolaji Ojo
The latest twist in the storied Journey of MIPS has just begun.
GlobalFoundries wants to buy MIPS and run it as an independent enterprise within its business. Doesn’t that sound like a storyline we’ve heard about MIPS before? In fact, the proposed structure of the deal has soothsayers predicting MIPS could return within the next 5 years to the market as a wholly independent enterprise, having been spun off by its latest buyer.
Of course, this may not happen. GlobalFoundries may make the union work so brilliantly that MIPS becomes very tightly enmeshed in the contract chipmaker’s DNA, giving the IP vendor a home finally. On the other hand, the nature of MIPS’ business combined with the interest of outside parties and current customers in having unfettered access to its IP may one day spur GlobalFoundries into setting the unit free again.
Read More »Have We Really Seen the End of MIPS?
