Intel split its graphics chip unit into two parts, the company said Wednesday, to rebalance the business to better compete with Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices.
The consumer graphics unit is combined with intel‘s client computing group, which makes chips for personal computers, while accelerated computing teams will join its data center and artificial intelligence (AI) business, the company said.
The move comes as Intel focuses on accelerated computing, a growing segment dominated by NVIDIA as AI use surges.
“I don’t think it changes much (if anything) other than tailoring the products to the particular distribution organizations that they fit into, rather than having them as a standalone segment,” said Matthew Bryson, an analyst at Wedbush Securities.
Raja Koduri, who led the graphics chip division, will return to his role as chief architect and oversee the company’s long-term technology and chip design strategy.
Koduri, who has led graphics technology ventures at iPhone Manufacturer Apple and AMDjoined Intel in 2017.
It happened earlier this month reported that Intel has moved away from its original goal of opening a chip factory in Magdeburg, east Germany, in the first half of 2023. The regional newspaper Volksstimme reported that the semiconductor giant wanted more public subsidies.
The work is central to plans by Germany and the European Union to strengthen the continent’s resilience by conducting more local production after 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have highlighted the risks of long, global supply chains.
However, the newspaper said that the rising energy and raw material prices had messed up the original calculations of the US company. Where Intel had originally estimated costs of 17 billion euros (18 billion US dollars, about 1.48 billion rupees), prices are now closer to 20 billion euros (about 1.76 million rupees), the newspaper said.
© Thomson Reuters 2022
