Interim Co-CEO David Zinsner Verifies Intel’s Foundry Plan Is Unaltered

The company’s present problem is Intel’s Foundry division, which is also likely the reason why the board of directors fired former CEO Pat Gelsinger. David Zinsner, the company’s new interim co-CEO, did, however, affirm that the foundry plan would not change. Zinsner emphasized optimism over growth in its PC and server categories while reiterating the company’s basic strategy and the October predictions at the UBS technology conference. This is a positive indication that Intel will keep its foundry division, which, despite its operational challenges, may be a bright spot for the company’s future growth prospects.

We talked about Lip-Bu Tan’s selection as Intel’s next CEO yesterday. Zinsner, the recently appointed co-CEO, said, “I’m not in the process, but I’m guessing that the CEO will have some capability around foundry as well on the product side.” There would be a lot of work for a new CEO to do that, allegedly, no one has been able to complete. Intel’s head of foundry business, Naga Chandrasekaran, has stated that the 18A node is going through evolution phases to improve final yields and remain profitable, despite rumors that it is producing 10% of usable silicon. He added that “there’s nothing fundamentally challenging on this node now.” It involves overcoming the remaining yield and defect density obstacles.