Intel is spinning off its chipmaking business as part of its plans to reverse billions in losses and a tumbling stock price. In an announcement on Monday, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said the Intel Foundry will become an independent subsidiary with “clearer separation and independence” from Intel.
With the change, the Intel Foundry will have its own operating board and report its financial earnings separately from Intel. Intel will also stop work on the factories it’s building in Poland and Germany for two years “based on anticipated market demand.” The company is still moving forward with its plants in Arizona, Oregon, New Mexico, and Ohio, however.
Additionally, Intel plans on selling part of its stake in Altera, the programmable chip company it acquired in 2015. It will also cut around two-thirds of its global real estate footprint. As part of this announcement, Intel revealed that the Biden administration awarded the company up to $3 billion in funding to make chips for the US military.
“As I’ve said before, this is the most significant transformation of Intel in over four decades. Not since the memory to microprocessor transition have we attempted something so essential,” Gelsinger says. “We succeeded then — and we will meet this moment and build a stronger Intel for decades to come.”
