经济学人下载:芯片巨头Intel还能逆风翻盘,向阳而生吗?(3)

His first job will be to try to turn the firm’s ailing manufacturing division around. Intel already outsources the manufacturing of some lower-end chips to TSMC. Its production woes will force it, at least temporarily, to send more business to Taiwan, perhaps including some of its pricier desktop and graphics chips. Daniel Loeb, an activist investor with a sizeable stake in Intel, sent a letter to the firm’s management in December urging it to abandon factories entirely and restrict itself to designing chips that other firms, such as TSMC, would make. On paper, that looks attractive: Intel capital expenditure in 2020 amounted to $14.2bn, almost all of it on its chip factories. AMD, meanwhile, spun out its manufacturing business in 2009, and is thriving today. Nvidia has been “fabless” since its founding in 1993. 

他的首要任务将是努力扭转公司陷入困境的制造部门。英特尔已经将一些低端芯片的生产外包给台积电。生产困境将迫使英特尔（至少暂时）把更多业务转给台湾，或许也会包括部分价格高昂的台式机芯片和图形芯片的制造业务。丹尼尔•勒布是一位激进的投资者，他持有英特尔相当大的股份。勒布在去年12月曾致函英特尔管理层，敦促该公司完全放弃工厂，全身心投入芯片设计，将芯片制造业务外包给台积电等其他公司。这项提议理论上看起来很有吸引力：英特尔2020年的资本支出达到142亿美元，几乎全部用于其芯片工厂。与此同时，AMD在2009年剥离了其制造业务，如今的它正蓬勃发展。英伟达自1993年成立以来一直未涉及过芯片制造。

Finding a buyer could be tricky, says Linley Gwennap, a veteran chip-industry watcher, precisely because Intel’s factories are now behind the cutting edge. Most of the world’s chipmakers, which might be tempted by the fabs, are in Asia. Since chips are a front in America’s tech war with China, politicians may veto a sale to a non- American bidder. 

资深芯片行业观察家林利•格温纳普表示，正因为英特尔的芯片制造工厂目前落后于行业最前沿，寻找买家上可能会棘手。世界上大部分可能对微型芯片生产厂感兴趣的芯片制造商都在亚洲。由于芯片是中美科技战的前线交锋领域，政客们可能会否决与非美国竞标者达成芯片交易。

In any case, Mr Gelsinger has said he will ignore Mr Loeb’s suggestion. In January the new boss said that, although the firm may use more outsourcing for some products, he intends to pursue the hard, costly task of restoring Intel to its customary position at chipmaking’s leading edge. He also seems minded to pursue his predecessor’s strategy of diversifying into new products, including graphics-to-AI chips. “Our opportunity as a world-leading semiconductor manufacturer is greater than it’s ever been,” he wrote. The direction of travel, then, is not about to change. Intel’s shareholders will have to hope that Mr Gelsinger can at least get it back on the pace. 

基尔辛格表示，无论如何，自己都会拒绝勒布的建议。今年1月，这位新老板表示，尽管英特尔可能会在某些产品上采用更多的外包服务，但他打算继续完成艰巨而昂贵的任务，让英特尔重回芯片制造业顶峰。他似乎也有意推行前任总裁提出的多元化战略，开发更多新产品，包括图形芯片和人工智能芯片。他写道：“作为世界领先的半导体制造商，我们的机会比以往任何时候都大。”英特尔的前进方向是不会改变的。股东们只能抱有希望，基尔辛格至少能让英特尔重回正轨。