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Foundry “Direct Connect” event unites Intel admirers, critics
SAN JOSE — Buoyed by interest in
Intel’s freshly minted CEO Lip-Bu
Tan, the newly painted (Intel Blue,
Pantone 311) Convention Center
welcomed nearly 1,000 to its April
290 Foundry “Direct Connect”
extravaganza.
This was the first big meet-and-greet for Intel’s new CEO
Lip-Bu Tan. (Intel)
The event, held in San Jose’s McEnery
Convention Center (once the site of part
of SEMICON West), was the first big
meet-and-greet for Tan, who left the
software industry after decades to go with
the iconic Silicon Valley chip maker and
microprocessor leader.
The company, once the
undisputed king of the chip
makers, has fallen on hard
times.
Recent challenges include
three layoffs in three years.
(The third is to begin this
quarter and may lower the
current workforce by up to
15%).
The last CEO, Patrick
Gelsinger, departed the
executive office on De-
JUNE 2025
cember 1, hastily, “to retire,” the company
said.
During Gelsinger’s regime, in addition to
the first two layoffs, the company report a
stunning revenue loss of over $16 billion
for the second quarter.
The recent foundry event must have eerily
seemed like deja vu all over again for
many attendees.
It was Gelsinger, who introduced (or re-
introduced) the foundry services at a
similar event on February 2024. At the
time, he made the amazing promise that
Intel would be second only to Taiwan’s
powerhouse TSMC in foundry by 2030.
No more promises
The new man made no such promises
this time. This time the object was to
introduce Intel’s many partners and
hopefully to provide warm, fuzzy feelings
that the foundry was up to the task of
providing chips for others, including its
competitors.
The Malaysia-born, Singapore educated
Tan faces perhaps more challenges now
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The San Jose Convention Center wore a new coat of paint for Intel.