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Comment by clubdorothe | Hacker News Reader

They've probably lost[1] few months ago their most talented chips engineer, Jim Keller[2]. Ironically, Jim suggested to outsource the manufacturing of their chips, what the new CEO just did [3].

[1] https://www.anandtech.com/show/15846/jim-keller-resigns-from...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Keller_(engineer)

[3] https://www.extremetech.com/computing/319301-report-intel-wi...

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Your [3] is (still) a rumour, and although signs of it have been around since at least July 2020, this has not been confirmed nor would I qualify it as 'something their new CEO just did' as it has been talked about by their current CEO as well.

Gelsinger just said on the earnings call that it's likely they will outsource and that he will comment further after he takes the reins. So, it's all but confirmed.

Here's the webcast link from the Intel website:

https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/vjapujpe

If you don't want to click that because of the URL, you can also find it on https://www.intc.com/.

The i3 is Intel's most hated product as the margins are the lowest. So it sounds like giving the i3 to an outside foundry is just a way for them to get rid of their least profitable work and is not a sincere effort to move the company forward! When I worked for Google I learned that the i3 was not allowed to be designed into corporate-grade laptops and by that I mean Chromebooks. Because of this Google would never approve an i3 Chromebook for internal corporate use!

“Losing” Keller is a net win.

Hinton, OTOH, is the real deal. I had the privilege of spending some time with him and the gang back in the Nehalem days.

Hinton and Keller don’t belong in the same conversation.

I take it Jim fired you at some point in your career.

Unless you're arrogant enough to look back at everything Jim's designed, from the DEC Alpha 21164, 21264, VAX 8800, K7, A4, A5, Tesla Autopilot hardware, and of course Zen, and then say "Yeah this guy that did Nehalem is more talented..."

I would work for Jim Keller for free. Lightning strikes everywhere he goes, that's not by accident. No one is that lucky - no one. I said on my investing blog that Keller would get pushed out by Intel's shit corporate structure and I was right. Intel isn't rotten, its gangrenous, and there's a lot of tissue that needs to be excised if the patient is going to be saved.

Everyone who listens to Jim Keller ends up with better products and more sales. Every time. Without fail.

If you think that isn't being the "real deal", there's something wrong with you, not Jim.

Can you elaborate? I'm an outsider. I see that both have proven track records. What makes Hinton the significantly better choice?

Wow that's harsh. Is it a personality difference or technical knowledge, or something else that makes you say that? I'm curious, I dont know either of them.

I smell fish. Keller is for those companies that hire him as Steve Jobs was for Apple. I can't think of a single person that is better at righting a CPU company's technical direction. I would even bet a lot on money on that he have been asked by Intel.

Steve Jobs was unpopular too with a significant portion of Apple staff, and outside of Apple too.

Something I've noticed is that many people prefer to work with pleasantly incorrect people over bluntly correct people.

This seems to have an obvious remedy: just be pleasantly correct.

Okay, now try to tell someone their "baby is ugly" in a pleasant way! It's basically impossible. Their feelings will get hurt.

The difference between people like Steve Jobs and Jim Keller versus the middle managers that got to their positions through making nice is that the former don't hesitate to call people's babies ugly. Or beautiful. Or mediocre.

They call it like it is, and some people just prefer to be lied to...

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