The Register reports that Randhir Thakur, head of Intel’s contract chip manufacturing division, has resigned, a report confirmed by Intel. Thakur will continue to lead Intel’s foundry services through the first quarter of 2023 to ensure a smooth transition for the new leader.
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger sent an email to company employees thanking Randhir Thakur for his input in building Intel Foundry Services (IFS, Intel Foundry Services ) and for his help with the company’s IDM 2.0 (Integrated Device Manufacturing 2.0) business model.
“Randhir has been a key member of the executive leadership team for the past two and a half years and has held multiple senior leadership roles since joining us in 2017,” the Intel CEO wrote in an email quoted by The Register, ” His contributions to our (Integrated Device Manufacturing) 2.0 transformation have been numerous, but most commendable has been his leadership in building our IFS business.”
Indeed, Randhir Thakur has done quite a lot to be proud of at IFS. During his tenure, Intel announced the acquisition of Tower Semiconductor (which made Intel one of the largest contract chip manufacturers). He was also instrumental in signing agreements with giant chip developers like MediaTek, which also happens to be one of TSMC’s largest customers. The contract is a big win for IFS, which also won a contract for the U.S. Department of Defense’s Rapid Assurance Microelectronics Prototype – Commercial (RAMP-C) program.
But foreign media Tomshardware believes that IFS is not an ideal contract chipmaker at the moment, at least according to the knowledge of Intel’s process technology roadmap to 2025. The company’s plans announced so far largely align its production nodes with its own manufacturing processes, which is good for Intel as an IDM (integrated design manufacturer), but may not be enough to convince companies like Apple, AMD and Nvidia to use IFS services for their high-volume products.
Intel’s foundry services division generated $171 million in the company’s fiscal third quarter of 2022, which is only about 1.1 percent of the company’s revenue.
