 "Intel to enter chip manufacturing business, competing with Nvidia")
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan on Tuesday said the company plans to build graphics processing units (GPUs), the category of chip popularized by Nvidia.
“I just hired the chief GPU architect, and he’s very good. I’m very delighted he joined me,” Tan said, claiming that it took some persuading.
Qualcomm executive Eric Demmers last month went to Intel, a move first reported by industry publication CRN and later confirmed by Demmers on LinkedIn.
In an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of the Cisco AI Summit, Tan said the GPU effort will target data centers, where Nvidia has built a massive business in recent years, and that Demmers will report to Intel’s data center chip chief Kevork Kechichian.
“It’s tied in with the data center,” Tan told Reuters. “We’re working with customers, and will then define what the customer needs.”
Tan said from the stage that “a couple of customers are engaging heavily” with Intel’s chip contract manufacturing operation, called Intel Foundry. In the interview with Reuters, he said that the interest was around Intel’s 14A manufacturing technology and that volume manufacturing would likely ramp up later this year.
“In order to have a customer … they have to let us know what is the volume and which product, so that we can plan and take time to build the capacity,” Tan told Reuters.
Tan also said that during a recent hiring drive for chip designers, he was “shocked” to find that Huawei Technologies Co had hired about 100 “top notch” designers, despite the fact that the US has restricted its access to chip industry software and tools.
Tan said that when he asked Huawei designers why they had joined the Chinese firm when it does not have access to US tools, “they said, ‘Even though we don’t have access to the best tools, like (electronic design automation) tools from Cadence and Synopsys, we have the poor man way to do it, and we can do it,’” Tan said.
Quick Reads
View All“To me, they are just shortly behind us, and if you’re not careful, they will just leap forward ahead of us.”
 "India, Israel elevate ties to special strategic partnership; PM Modi calls it ‘reflection of aspirations of both nations’")
 "India vs Zimbabwe LIVE Score, T20 World Cup 2026: Abhishek-Kishan stand goes past fifty, India in complete control")
 "Who is Borge Brende, World Economic Forum chief who quit over Epstein files?")
 "US-Iran tension: Third round of nuclear talks begin in Geneva — can it avoid war?")
 "India, Israel elevate ties to special strategic partnership; PM Modi calls it ‘reflection of aspirations of both nations’")
 "India vs Zimbabwe LIVE Score, T20 World Cup 2026: Abhishek-Kishan stand goes past fifty, India in complete control")
 "Who is Borge Brende, World Economic Forum chief who quit over Epstein files?")
 "US-Iran tension: Third round of nuclear talks begin in Geneva — can it avoid war?")
