Intel

Did Intel’s board “retire” him because he botched something, or did it rug pull before he could finish the job? Either way, Gelsinger is now praying for Intel’s employees and defending its all-important 18A silicon process on X. He agrees it’s “fake news” that yields are bad, and explains yields depend on chip size. (You can fit more tiny chips on a wafer than big ones!)

Prospects of an acquisition have cooled, according to sources speaking to Bloomberg:

The complexities associated with acquiring all of Intel has made a deal less attractive to Qualcomm, said some of the people, asking not to be identified discussing confidential matters. It’s always possible Qualcomm looks at pieces of Intel instead or rekindles its interest later, they added.

Qualcomm first approached Intel with the idea of a takeover in September.

Intel just reported Q3 2024 earnings, and losses are ten times worse than Q2 — a $16.6 billion loss, up from $1.6 billion. But Intel says that’s because of write-offs and restructuring to turn its fortunes around, including depreciating old manufacturing for its Intel 7 node.

Revenue was actually slightly up this quarter — and Intel says the “vast majority” of its planned layoffs are over.

Intel stands to receive $8.5 billion in CHIPS Act funding, ostensibly to make America lead in silicon again, but Intel’s not looking like much of a leader right now. Among other things, Anna Swanson and Tripp Mickle at The New York Times found out Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has asked Big Tech to order chips from Intel fabs — and most of them said no.

The company has successfully reduced its record-setting EU fine of €1.06 billion to €376.36 million, at most. It was levied way back in 2009 after the x86 maker was found guilty of anticompetitive practices like paying PC makers to halt or delay the launch of products fitted with competing chips.

So, is the legal battle over? Nope! But Intel’s definitely not a dominant chipmaker anymore.

The layoffs affect workers at all four of Intel’s Oregon campuses, according to a WARN notice posted online. The job cuts come as part of Intel’s broader layoffs that will impact more than 15,000 employees.

A Reddit user spotted a Microsoft Surface Laptop outfitted with Intel’s next-gen ARM competitor on a Chinese website called Goofish, Windows Central reports.

The outlet says its sources confirmed that Microsoft is testing the chip in a Surface, but that it’s not clear if it’s the Surface Laptop 7 or a future version of the machine.

After multiple reports surfaced Friday saying Qualcomm talked to Intel about a possible acquisition, now Bloomberg reports Apollo Global Management has offered to make an “equity-like investment” of up to $5 billion.

Like the Qualcomm rumor, the details are all tentative at best, but until we find out more, I’m trying to think of who else might want a piece of Intel?

Samsung’s entry into the Microsoft Copilot Plus AI PCs was the weirdly throttled (and pricey) Galaxy Book4 Edge, but here’s a new 15-incher with Qualcomm’s budget 8-core chip, plus a Galaxy Book5 backflipper with Intel’s Lunar Lake.

No prices yet, but both boast over 24 hours video playback; the Book5 has a 16-inch, 3K 120Hz OLED display that claims 120 percent DCI-P3 color.