*Updated with Intel comment
Rumors and more concrete ideas are flying over how beleaguered Intel can survive the coming months, everything from getting out of its fab business to selling off design pieces to mobile chipmaker Qualcomm. Reports also suggest Intel will sell off more of its stake in Mobileye or even split off its Network and Edge division.
The idea of spinning off Intel’s costly fab business is complex, but has been recently advised, again, by Citi analyst Christopher Danely and Stratechery analyst Ben Thompson, among others. However, there isn’t much of a clear outline of how separating from the fab business would work, with Intel already planning or building new multibillion dollar fabs in Ohio, Arizona and Germany.
The US and European governments have also preliminarily offered grants to Intel for the new fabs and have strong interests in seeing more robust alternatives to TSMC in Taiwan for advanced node production, at least eventually. “While in our view Intel manufacturing for CPUs is on track, we continue to believe it should exit the foundry business in the best interest of shareholders,” Danely wrote recently in a note to clients.
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More recently, Reuters reported Qualcomm has explored buying portions of Intel’s design-side business, according to sources. Intel’s PC design business is of significant interest, the report said, but Qualcomm is rumored to be looking at all of Intel’s design units.
The Reuters report surfaced the same day Qualcomm launched its Snapdragon X Plus 8-cor processor for PCs running Windows to provider users with long battery life and AI processing.
Intel is also considering selling more if its stake in Mobileye, according to sources that spoke to Bloomberg. Intel holds 88% of the company that provides software and hardware for self-driving systems. Mobileye went public in 2022 and Intel sold off part of its stake last year, raising $1.5 billion.
In addition, Bloomberg has reported the Intel is exploring options for its enterprise networking division, which has seen revenue fall.
Intel has begun a process of laying off 15,000 workers after announcing a net loss of $1.6 billion last quarter. Outside advisors are expected to present strategic options for a turnaround to the Intel board later in September.
*Asked to comment on recent reports involving Qualcomm, Mobileye or spinning off the fab business or networking, Intel Director of Corporate Communications told Fierce Electronics late Friday: "We're not going to comment on other companies. As we have said publicly, Intel is deeply committed to this business, including our market-leading position in the PC category."
Qualcomm did not immediately respond to a request to comment.