IT Essentials: How the mighty fall

Intel has failed to keep up, and now it stands to pay the price

The changing technology market has left Intel in the dust. Could the CPU leader still turn its fortunes around?

We often hear that AI will change the world. It appears that, for one tech giant, it’s already doing so – and not for the better.

The changing demands of modern compute have not been kind to Intel, which made its name producing CPUs. With GPUs supplanting CPUs as the component of choice for AI, the USA’s biggest chip maker has been steadily losing ground (oh – and its CEO).

And now the wolves are circling. Broadcom is said to be eyeing up Intel’s chip design division, while TSMC has been pegged as a potential buyer of its manufacturing business (Intel split into two separate units 12 months ago).

It would take some fast talking from Taiwan’s leading chip maker to convince the protectionist US authorities to nod that deal through. Although the chips would still be manufactured in the US (the main aim of Trump’s tariffs), it wouldn't be a good look for the “America First” President to allow a high-tech US company to pass to a foreign entity.

Much has been written about Intel not having what it takes to compete in the AI era (see: my second paragraph), but the company was floundering for a long time before LLMs took over the world.

Back in the 80s and 90s, Intel was riding high on a profitable partnership with Microsoft; Windows on Intel earned the appropriate nickname of Wintel. But the company has clung to the glory days for too long, making it unwilling to shift course and take risks – preferring to refine (and refine, and refine) the x86 architecture.

Intel could be on the brink of a turnaround – its latest chips have been well-received and the 18A process node promises great things – but I think it more likely that this is the last gasp of a company that has failed to keep up with an evolving market.

AI might not be doing much for Intel, but it’s revolutionising the fan experience in American football. Penny Horwood talked to NFL deputy CIO Aaron Amendoli about how the organisation is using gen-AI to shorten the distance between fan and field.

And whether it’s AI, CRM or another business system, it all eventually comes back to data. That’s why British Heart Foundation CTO Alex Duncan has put data strategy at the heart (sorry) of the charity’s ongoing transformation.