Intel says chip spin-off is an ‘open question’ for next CEO

Executives broke with former CEO Pat Gelsinger’s more bullish messaging and emphasised that it will take time to fix Intel’s competitiveness

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Intel executives appear to have softened on the idea of spinning off the company’s chip manufacturing operations, but said it is something for the next CEO to handle. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:00pm, 13 Dec 2024

Intel chief financial officer Dave Zinsner said that a formal separation of the company’s factory and product-development divisions is an open question that will be decided by the chipmaker’s next leader.

Zinsner, who is serving as interim co-chief executive officer following this month’s ouster of Pat Gelsinger, made the remarks Thursday at the Barclays technology conference in San Francisco alongside co-CEO Michelle Johnston Holthaus.

Intel’s struggles to keep pace with rivals – along with its deteriorating financial condition – have spurred speculation that the next CEO will make dramatic changes. That’s included talk of a split of the company’s manufacturing and product-design operations.

“That’s an open question for another day,” Zinsner said in response to an analyst question.

The two units are already separated operationally, with different oversight and accounts, he said. Gelsinger, who served as CEO from 2021 until last week, had maintained that the two main parts of the company were better kept together.

Johnston Holthaus said that access to leading production technology is a an advantage for Intel’s products.