There was a time before Apple’s iPhone and other smartphones roamed Earth when people depended on their PCs to access the internet. At that time, Intel was considered the gold standard of chip makers. But that was then and today Intel no longer has the same reputation. Intel also had problems with its 10 nm process node and delayed until 2022 the launch of its 7 nm manufacturing process.
Last week, Intel CEO Bob Swan left the company on February 15. His replacement, Pat Gelsinger, is returning to the fold; an Intel veteran with over 30 years of experience at Intel, Gelsinger recently spent his days as CEO of VMare. Although Gelsinger won’t take over until mid-next month, he is apparently feeling the heat from Apple’s M1 chip. The latter is equipped with 16 billion transistors. Compare that to the 11.8 billion transistors that are sardined on the A14 Bionic (which was a 38% increase over the 8.5 billion transistors found on the A13 Bionic).
The Apple M1 is an impressive chip
Perhaps the next Intel CEO was just trying to motivate the company’s employees. The point of the comment is that Intel is a company that produces chips, chips and chips. As a result, the chips it produces must be better than those designed by Apple, which makes different products to improve consumers’ lives. In other words, Gelsinger is looking at the M1 and saying that how could we let ourselves be outdone by a company that doesn’t really focus on chips but on consumer electronics?