Component Peripherals News
Thomas Grillo
“To help our partners grow, we need more than making significant investments in long-term capacity and building this globally resilient supply chain,” John Calvin, Intel’s global channel chief, told CRN. I can’t imagine a bigger and more meaningful investment in .
As supply chain disruptions continue to plague channels and the tech industry at large, Intel global channel chief John Calvin said the chip giant’s investments to boost manufacturing capacity in the U.S. and around the world , said it will have a significant impact on the growth of partners. .
said John Kalvin, vice president and general manager, Global Partners. He told CRN that Intel’s aim is to reset the balance of where the semiconductors are manufactured, he said.
[Related: Chain Reaction: How Supply Shortages Are Shaking Up The Channel]
“If you turn the clock back, even before I worked for Intel, say, 30 years ago, 80% of these semiconductors were made in the US and Europe,” he said. “Now it’s essentially been completely turned upside down. About 80% of the world’s semiconductors are made in Asia, and just over 20% of that is in Europe and the United States.”
Intel’s mission, he said, is to balance chip production at 50% in Asia and 50% in the US and Europe over time.
in an interview with CRN About a week after the company built a $20 billion chip-fabrication facility in Licking County, Ohio, Kalvin made big bets on Intel’s chip-making fab and its partner ecosystem with those investments. talked about being
An edited version of the conversation follows.
Supply chain issues have been a problem since the pandemic began. How is Intel responding now and in the long term?
We have invested in various manufacturing expansions and projects in New Mexico, Arizona, Oregon, Costa Rica, Israel and Ireland. So not only is his new $20 billion announcement in Ohio, but it will be years before it becomes operational.
Over the past few years, we have increased our investment aggressively. We’ve spent about $14 billion on capital expenditures, [in our] In its final earnings call in July, it forecasts net capex of $23 billion.
We have been working hard to improve our product output over the next few years, and we plan to bring this capacity in bulk online to ensure we meet our customers’ needs.
How long will it take to reach that 50/50 split?
Time will tell. Think about this in a fairly long-term perspective, and think about the end of the decade.chip method [legislation signed in August to boost domestic high-tech manufacturing] part of the investment. But look at the Intel part. In the US he will make $100 billion and up to 80 billion euros in the next decade. This is the timeline for our goal to reach such a 50-50 mark. On top of that, there are government investments that are taking place here in the US as well as in Europe.
Why is this important for channel partners?
A big focus for us is how we help our partners grow. I can’t imagine a bigger and more meaningful investment than building this globally resilient chain of supply, making significant investments in long-term capacity to help our partners grow. . Intel’s investment in building capacity ensures our partners’ growth for decades. Their business presupposes a long-term, stable supply of semiconductors in order to grow.
Is Intel working with competitors to solve supply chain issues?
not directly. For example, we recently made an announcement with MediaTek. Some may see them traditionally on the Intel playing field, with Nvidia making public comments about considering Intel for the foundry. Many of the fabless companies that were traditionally seen as competitors may also end up being customers as they figure out where to build their semiconductors in the long term.
Partners say they want vendors to communicate more. Supply Do you have a strategy for talking more with your partner about issues in her chain?
We’ve actually done a lot of work to help our customers and partners truly understand the broader constraints in the semiconductor supply chain and upstream technology supply chain. [We want] To ensure our customers and partners have all the components they need to build their Intel-powered products… [and] Share our views on what we see and increase communication on Intel components. But more broadly, [sharing] Our perspective is definitely part of what we’ve been doing in that area.
Shane Snyder contributed to this report.
