SANTA CLARA, Calif.--Intel Corp.'s new chief executive disclosed
a series of strategy shifts to accelerate the company's
long-sluggish move into mobile devices and other new markets.
Brian Krzanich, who took the top job at the big chip maker last
May, told analysts that more "pragmatic" moves would bring benefits
that include taking Intel processors into tablets at price points
below $100.
Other new pushes include enabling hardware vendors to make
personal computers in 2014 that could use multiple operating
systems. PC makers would have a choice of either Google Inc.'s
Android or Chrome operating systems as well as Windows software
from Microsoft Corp., Intel's longtime PC partner.
Intel will also allow any company that wants to use the
company's manufacturing service to do so, Mr. Krzanich said. His
predecessor, Paul Otellini, had previously shied away from allowing
its advanced manufacturing technology to be used by direct Intel
competitors.
"We will open the foundry to any company able to utilize our
leading-edge silicon," Mr. Krzanich said.
Intel, whose x86 chip design is the standard in PCs, has been
passed over by many makers of mobile devices in favor of companies
that license chip designs from ARM Holdings PLC. Mr. Krzanich said
Intel will continue to stick to the x86 design for chips it
develops internally, but resistance to making products with ARM
technology for other companies in its factories has eased. It has
agreed, for example, to build new chips for Altera Corp. that
include ARM technology.
Mr. Krzanich, as well as Intel Chairman Andy Bryant, kicked off
its analyst meeting here by blaming the lagging penetration of
smartphones and tablets on an unrealistic mindset by management in
the past about what hardware makers want.
Mr. Bryant said he was "personally embarrassed" by the results.
"We were in denial on tablets," he said. "It put us in a hole and
we are paying the price for that right now."
That position in tablets should improve dramatically in 2014, as
the company delivers chips for products which are less expensive
and offer greater performance and longer battery life, Mr. Krzanich
said. He predicted that shipments of chips for tablets would
quadruple next year, to 40 million units.
Intel has also fallen behind rivals like Qualcomm Inc. in
delivering wireless chips for smartphones. In one unusual move to
boost its position, Mr. Krzanich disclosed that his company will
take an existing chip from an Intel unit formerly part of Infineon,
which previously came along with an ARM processor, and simply
replace that with Intel technology.
In addition, that chip--dubbed SoFIA--will continue to be
produced by another manufacturing service, Mr. Krzanich said. Intel
has rarely allowed x86-based chips to be built outside its own
factories. That chip is expected in the second half of 2014.
Mr. Krzanich said the company would try to focus on winning
sales from the biggest suppliers in smartphones, rather than trying
to cover the entire market. "You will see our focus narrowed down
on these key suppliers," he said.
While trying to penetrate new markets, Mr. Krzanich said he
believes the PC-market slump is easing, driven in particular by
sales to business customers. Lower pricing should help; Mr.
Krzanich said he said convertible devices--which can work as a
tablet or in clamshell mode--should hit the market as low as $299
soon.
In promoting the concept of mobile computers with two operating
systems, Mr. Krzanich said the strategy would enable PC makers to
ship PCs into sales channels without loading the software until
right before it is purchases. That gives manufacturers a "cost
reduction no one else can provide," he said.
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