It hasn’t been a great season for Intel, and now its CEO Pat Gelsinger is out. And in the midst of the chipmaker’s transitionary period, Apple silicon is looking like a bigger win than ever for Apple.
Intel ousting CEO comes after years of struggles
Intel’s official announcement indicates that Gelsinger is technically retiring. But reporting and the company’s turbulent few years make clear that this was an ousting.
Ian King, Liana Baker, and Ryan Gould write at Bloomberg:
Intel Corp. Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger was forced out after the board lost confidence in his plans to turn around the iconic chipmaker, adding to turmoil at one of the pioneers of the technology industry.
The clash came to a head last week when Gelsinger met with the board about the company’s progress on winning back market share and narrowing the gap with Nvidia Corp., according to people familiar with the matter. He was given the option to retire or be removed, and chose to announce the end of his career at Intel
Gelsinger’s downfall was primarily a byproduct, as the piece notes, of Nvidia’s AI ascension.
Even though Intel’s decline in many ways happens to align with Apple’s 2020 transition to Apple silicon for Macs, those two events are largely coincidental.
However, even though Apple can’t actually take much responsibility for its former partner’s decline, this story is a big win for Apple silicon nonetheless.
Why? Because not only has Apple silicon revitalized the Mac like Intel never could—it has also safeguarded Apple against being harmed by Intel’s rough patch.
The alternate timeline without Apple silicon
Pundits may debate Apple being behind in AI, but just think about where the company would be if the Apple silicon transition hadn’t happened.
Apple silicon is the basis for Apple Intelligence, not to mention many of the other Mac advancements and features of the last few years.
If the chip transition had never happened, the Mac would have been languishing and Apple’s own AI strategy would be in serious jeopardy.
Top comment by Adam
Apple would have been in middle of major recall or RMA process for every mac using intel 13th and 14th gen cpus if they hadn't switched. it would have damaged trust in apple products even more than the nvidia recall did years back that made apple ultimately drop nvidia. (although in nvdiias case they learned from it and have not had one blip since, and it is a shame apple missed out on many nvidia gpus in the last of their intel era. But it does go to show that apple is VERY quick to throw someone out if they are under performing and that strategy saved their hide with intel.
All of those difficulties would have brought Apple to today, when the partner it would have relied on for Mac chips, Intel, forced its CEO out and enters what’s sure to be a challenging leadership change.
I guess what I’m saying is, Apple silicon may not have made much of a dent in Intel’s downfall, but it sure saved Apple from a heap of trouble.
Thanksgiving is officially over, but Apple’s leadership is surely very thankful today for its fantastic silicon team.
Where do you think Apple would be if it still relied on Intel for chips? Let us know in the comments.
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