Transformation, reviewing Intel's development history, these two words have been running through its core strategy.
At one time, Intel successfully transformed from a memory manufacturer to a microprocessor manufacturer in the late 1980s. The "Intel Inside" sounded with more than 90% of the global PC market share with the "lights and other lights".
Since then, as the growth of the PC market has slowed down and the mobile market has advanced by leaps and bounds, Intel has repeatedly tried to transform mobile, data centers, and the Internet of Things, but it seems that it is still unreasonable.
Today, Intel has found a new mobile breakthrough point in the market hotspots such as driverless and virtual reality - 5G. At the end of the 2017 MWC (World Mobile Communications Conference), Intel introduced the first Gigabit LTE modem Intel XMM7560, the third generation Intel 5G mobile test platform, etc., its performance in the field of communications is sought after by the media.
"Intel believes that 5G is not designed for smart phones. The road to change is not the evolution of communication technology, but a thorough and comprehensive innovation. It will subvert all walks of life, bring new categories and business models, and change our experience. The world and the way it does business." Asha Keddy, vice president of Intel Communications and Devices, told the China Electronics News.
Missed the wave of movement
The mobile business was once Intel’s unspeakable regret.
Although the development of low-power Atom processor chips began in 2004, Intel has not been able to catch up with mobile devices. In the past decade, Intel has invested heavily in Atom processor chips, launching SoFIA chipsets for affordable mobile phones in emerging markets and Broxton chipsets for high-end phones.
However, the powerful X86 architecture has become unacceptable in the field of mobile devices. Despite the loss and financial input, Intel failed to replicate the glory of the PC market. Although several Android phones have chosen Intel, the vast majority of the market is still in control of Qualcomm and MediaTek in the ARM architecture.
Since then, Intel has also decided to fight back from the tablet market, using subsidies to chip its chips into the core of 40 million tablets.
It is worth mentioning that although Jingzhou was largely lost in chip integration, on the independent modem module, Intel took advantage of Apple's ride last year. Intel has been expanding the XMM 7XXX series of modem products. In September 2016, Apple introduced Intel's Modem, XMM 7360, for the first time on iPhone 7, listing Intel as one of Apple's new baseband suppliers.
A person who has been in the field of mobile chips for many years told reporters that although Modem is not Intel's strength, its performance has long been enough for consumers to use.
Gradually, Intel is also aware of the hardships of the mobile market, starting to retreat from the smartphone market and shifting more energy to the faster-growing, more advantageous cloud and data center markets.
Today, server chips have become the mainstay of Intel's revenue, with a global share of 99% in the server chip market, which is a big one. In 2016, Intel achieved a total revenue of $59.4 billion. Among them, Intel's data center division achieved revenue of $17.2 billion, and the client computing business group responsible for mobile and PC business generated annual revenues of $9.1 billion.
New situation of transformation
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich re-strategized a "data-driven" strategy for Intel. "If a market can't generate data, analyze data, or use data to provide value-added services, Intel won't enter."
Following the "data-driven" strategic theme, Intel has adjusted its mobile business thinking, instead of forcing the costly mobile processor Red Sea, but turning its attention to the 5G field that is more forward-looking and development space.
This time, Intel is in a position to grab.
At the CES in January this year, Intel introduced the industry's first globally popular 5G modem, and supported both 6GHz and millimeter wave bands; launched the first unmanned Intel GO smart driving 5G vehicle communication platform; first deployed Stable 28GHz millimeter wave RF architecture; launched the first 5G mobile test platform; as the only chip company to obtain the first phase of China 5G technology R & D test IMT-2020 (5G) promotion group certificate.
Of course, this does not mean that Intel has given up the mobile phone chip market. The rise of China's power has allowed Intel to see another path back to the mobile phone chip market. At 2017MWC, China's mobile phone chip company Spreadtrum launched the SC9861G-IA, an LTE chip based on Intel's eight-core X86 Airmont architecture. Intel also provided its leading 14nm process foundry for this chip.
The cooperation between Intel and Spreadtrum began in 2014, when Intel invested 9 billion yuan in the holding company of Spreadtrum Communications and R&D Microelectronics. The original layout paved the way for today's cooperation.
Wang Chengwei, vice president of Spreadtrum Communications, told the China Electronics News that the Intel architecture has a relatively large architectural design flexibility, high energy efficiency and high performance, which can meet the needs of high-performance and low-power consumption in mobile applications. . In addition, it can bring enough differentiation to help mobile phone customers make more cost-effective solutions. Spreadtrum and Intel will likely have more and deeper cooperation in technology and products.
5G unlimited possibilities
Intel's competitiveness in the LTE field is growing. According to Intel's view, 5G will not only exist on the network side, but also in the cloud and on the client side. The terminal equipment here includes not only mobile phones, but also home equipment, VR, cars, and so on.
Due to the end-to-end understanding of the 5G domain, Intel's 5G has also extended and expanded. It's not just about designing and preparing network facilities for mobile phones. The next network in Intel's eyes is the connection of things. According to Intel's judgment, by 2020, there will be 50 billion devices connected to each other.
Asha Keddy pointed out that Intel's long-term accumulation in the cloud, network and other fields, as well as Intel's own powerful computing power and extensive connectivity technology, provide Intel with a clear advantage in the collaboration of the entire industry chain from cloud to network to device. The advantage of competitors makes Intel the only company that offers 5G end-to-end solutions from intelligent networking devices, wireless access technologies, network infrastructure, core networks to the cloud.
The new 5G network will be able to support similar applications such as driverless cars, smart factories, smart homes, etc., which also provides an entry point for Intel to enter the relevant industries.
On March 13, Intel just spent $15.3 billion to acquire Israel's autonomous driving technology developer Mobileye, intending to raise the driverless car market in a big way. It is reported that Mobileye has accumulated a large amount of autopilot technology related to computer vision algorithms and driver assistance systems.
Intel believes that the data generated by the next 1 million connected cars is equivalent to the amount of data generated by 3 billion people. This is a huge data processing market with massive data. And its implementation requires powerful computing power, data analysis capabilities, connectivity capabilities, and so on. As a result, Intel is also beginning to offer computing, connectivity, FPGA, software, SDK and integrated platform solutions.
As Keqiqi expects, Intel is already evolving from a PC company to a company that drives cloud computing and hundreds of millions of smart, connected computing devices.
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