Source: Content from Bloomberg

Intel Corp. Chief Financial Officer Dave Zinsner said the formal separation of the company's factory and product development units is an open question that will be decided by the chipmaker's next leader.

Zinsner, who served as interim co-CEO after Pat Gelsinger was ousted this month, made the comments Thursday at the Barclays Technology Conference in San Francisco alongside co-CEO Michelle Johnston Holthaus.

Intel's struggle to keep up with rivals, coupled with its deteriorating financial situation, has fueled speculation that the next CEO will make major changes. That includes rumors of a separation of the company's manufacturing and product design businesses.

"That's an open question for another day," Zinsner said in response to analyst questions.

He said the two units are already operationally separate, with different oversight and accounts. Gelsinger, who has been CEO since 2021, had insisted until last week that the two main parts of the company were best kept together.

Johnston Holthaus said access to leading-edge production technology is an advantage for Intel's products.

"So pragmatically, do I think it makes sense to keep them completely separate and not have any connection?" she said. "I don't think so, but someone will decide that.”

Shares rose 3.3% to $20.78 in New York. They had plunged 60% by Wednesday's close.

Executives broke with their predecessors' more optimistic rhetoric and stressed that repairing Intel's competitiveness and financial health will take time. They pointed to progress in PC chips but also difficulties with data center products. Intel's outsourced manufacturing work, which involves making chips for outside customers, is another challenge.

Johnston Holthaus, known internally as "MJ," also said rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is doing a better job of giving its mutual customers the data center products they want. She said the executive will focus on trying to stem the market share losses Intel has suffered through 2025. As part of last week's reshuffle, Johnston Holthaus also became chief executive of products, putting her at the heart of the effort.

Intel has also struggled in the artificial intelligence accelerator chip space, where Nvidia Corp. dominates. Johnston Holthaus acknowledged that the company's Gaudi chips are difficult to use. She said Intel is now focusing on more general graphics chip products that won't be great at first but will be updated quickly to make them competitive.

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