As much as is it displeases me that every week seems to be 'let's rag on Intel' week, it's hard not to keep bringing up the company's utter failure to bring its manufacturing up to scratch when big dogs like Bill Gates keep talking about it.
At least Gates isn't ragging—he's offering a sombre lament. Speaking to the Associated Press, ex-Microsoft co-founder and multi-billionaire Bill Gates says he is «stunned that Intel basically lost its way», referring of course to the numerous ways that Intel's design and fabrication divisions have gone wrong.
Gates sums up Intel's general problem better than I can: "[Intel is] kind of behind in terms of chip design and they are kind of behind in chip fabrication.
And both of those are very capital intensive. They missed the AI chip revolution, and with their fabrication capabilities, they don’t even use standards that people like Nvidia and Qualcomm find easy." Pat Gelsinger returned to Intel as CEO to lead the charge of its attempted recovery back in 2021, but after apparent failure, he retired late last year.
Gates explains: «I thought Pat Gelsinger was very brave to say, ‘No, I am going to fix the design side, I am going to fix the fab side.’ I was hoping for his sake, for the country’s sake that he would be successful.