A lot has been said and rumored lately about whether or not Intel would ever start making ARM-based chips. Current Intel CEO Paul Otellini was against it, but Otellini is stepping down this month, so ultimately the question was: “What would Intel’s next CEO think about making some ARM chips for partners like Apple?”
Ultimately, how the next CEO of Intel would feel about that prospect came down to whether or not he was promoted from within Intel (as all of Intel’s CEOs ever have been) or if he came from outside the company. What made the question of who Intel’s next CEO would be so interesting is that Intel’s board of directors was, for the first time ever, openly talking about looking outside of the company. Intel could have gained a much different perspective.
But it hasn’t.
Instead, Intel has done the same thing it has done since 1987: they promoted their current COO, Brian Krzanich, to CEO. He will start his new duties on May 16.
According to All Things D, other options were on the table, though:
I’ve heard reliable chatter that the headhunter Intel hired reached out to several people who turned the opportunity down. They include: Oracle President Mark Hurd; VMWare CEO Patrick Gelsinger, an Intel veteran once considered a likely successor to Otellini but who was recruited away by EMC CEO Joe Tucci; and Michael Daniels, the former head of IBM’ services business who retired on March 31.
Ultimately, though, Intel’s board of directors has made it clear that Intel’s strategy isn’t going to change, despite dipping earnings in the face of a worldwide slump in PC sales and Intel’s negligible (so far!) impact on the mobile landscape.
That means you can forget about Intel making ARM chips, or teaming up with Apple to make hot new A-series SoCs in the future. It’s not going to happen.
That’s not really a surprise, but it does, in effect, cement Intel’s strategy going forward: they’re going to have to double, triple, and quadruple down on getting x86 chips in smartphones and tablets.
