New Intel CEO focused on mobile chips, cautious on TV
SAN FRANCISCO ( Reuters) – Intel Corp.’s new CEO said on Friday he would speed up the rollout of chips for smartphones, tablets and wearable devices as consumers move away from personal computers.
Brian Krzanich, an Intel manufacturing guru who took over as chief executive officer in May, also took a cautious tone about the top chipmaker’s planned foray into television and said Intel continues to look at the business model.
“We believe we have a great user interface and the compression-decompression technology is fantastic,” Krzanich said. “But in the end, if we want to provide that service it comes down to content. We are not big content players.”
In their first sit-down with reporters since their promotions in May, Krzanich and Intel president Renee James said wearable computing devices would become a key battleground for mobile industry players.
Krzanich, who mentioned he had Google’s Glass wearable device in his knapsack, said computing in the next few years would focus more on items for eyes and ears, as well as wristbands and watches.
“I think you’ll start to see stuff with our silicon toward the end of the year and the beginning of next year,” Krzanich said. “We’re trying to get our silicon into some of them, create some ourselves, ecosystem.”
The world’s biggest chipmaker dominates the PC industry, but has been slow to adapt its chips to be suitable for smartphones and tablets. Intel is anxious to make sure it does not fall behind in future technology trends.
Krzanich and James said that under their leadership, Intel will give much more priority to its Atom mobile chips. In the past, Intel’s most cutting-edge manufacturing resources were reserved for making powerful PC chips, with Atom chips made on older production lines.
“We see that Atom is now at the same importance, it’s launching on the same leading edge technology, sometimes even coming before Core (Intel’s line of PC chips),” said Krzanich.