Intel layoffs: More seismic changes to come

[Onkel Neal]

PC sales continue their downward trend :wah:

Remember the days when PCs were obsolete in a year and you actually needed newer hardware to run programs? I guess for most people, the lifespan of a PC has grown to 5+ years.

http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2016/04/intel_layoffs_more_seismic_cha.html

The 12,000 layoffs Intel announced Tuesday are only the beginning of the chipmaker's monumental overhaul.

Intel is preparing to close several of its sites, kill some of its products, and appears to be setting up a two-man contest to succeed chief executive Brian Krzanich as the company transforms itself for the post-PC era.

"Intel's been very, very slow to change," said Jim McGregor, an industry analyst in Arizona who follows the company for Tirias Research. "Now it's catching up with them and it's going to be painful."


Intel faces uphill battle with PC sales down 10%
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/04/19/intel-faces-uphill-battle-pc-sales-down-10/83209940/

“PC shipments dropped below 65 million units for first time since 2007,” said Mark Hung, Gartner’s Intel analyst.

The decline will have a definite impact on Intel’s Q1 earnings, say analysts. But Intel's also been lowering expectations, said Van Hees.

[Aktungbby]

Could we please avoid using 'seismic'; I'm living on top of a fault line and get the jitters! It's not PC!:O:
“Expectations are pretty low,” which is actually a good thing for Intel, said Betsy Van Hees, an analyst with Wedbush Securities.
Intel's guidance for the first quarter of 2016 is revenue of $14.0 billion, with a range of plus or minus $500 million, up from $12.8 billion for the first quarter of 2015.
S&P Global Market Intelligence forecast revenue of $13.826 billion, with adjusted earnings per share of 48 cents, up from 41 cents a year ago. Intel rules (manipulates?) the seas in the chip/PC trade I don't see a big lo$$ for their bottom-line...

[August]

I'm posting this from a computer I bought in 2005. I've been thinking of buying a new one though.

[Oberon]

Perhaps we're reaching the upper limits of Moores law. :hmmm: Intel did confirm only last year that the rate of progress has slowed slightly, although sales decline due to the economic crunch making people a bit more frugal with their money probably hasn't helped their fortunes much either.
They've still got a sizable portion of the market though, I mean it's between them and AMD really, VIA gets a bit of the market, but Intel and AMD are the heavyweights, and if VR manages to get off the starting blocks properly then there could be a small renaissance for the PC as people seek to build the ultimate VR rig that has the peripherals to put you there. That being said, VR needs to come down to a more accessible price before that happens, so if there is going to be a surge then it's probably not for at least another five to six years.
Certainly though the actual physical Personal Computer is going to be evolving further in the near future, in both technical and non-technical manners, I predict a move into bio-tech for data transmission in the not-to-distant future, and a continuation of the transition of data from the physical hard-drive to the virtual 'cloud', of course that depends a lot on internet connection speed, but there may come a time when you don't even need a physical computer as such as the connection allows you to interact with a powerful gaming computer elsewhere in the world which streams the gaming experience to you based upon your inputs. That could work quite well with VR and take a big load off the public base needing beefy rigs in order to get a good experience.
It requires a lot of infrastructure upgrades though, and is probably going to be something for the next generation, most likely not in our lifetimes...well, maybe at the tail-end of mine. :hmmm:

[Skybird]

Still cannot see how tablets, smartphones and laptops (often been counted as PCs nowadays) could replace desktop stations in many prefessional jobs, studios, and for gamers.

And look at the infantile crap you get as games for Android only.

Modern consoles also are surprisingly narrow in what they have to offer in games.

And then this damn pest, "cloud". The next big thing that Microsoft aims at, Windows 10 will be its last OS, and what a mess it so far is both in quality and features.

Current rig is 6 years old and smoothly runs everything I throw at it, I will likely buy a new one in the coming 12 months.

Problem is not so much technology itself, but our deeply overpaced economic structures and understanding of how economy should be done. Always, newer, always faster, always short intervals. If you race down the autobahn at that speed you cannot avoid it but must hit the pillow of a bridge sooner or later, its inevitable.

[Jimbuna]

Perhaps we're reaching the upper limits of Moores law. :hmmm: Intel did confirm only last year that the rate of progress has slowed slightly, although sales decline due to the economic crunch making people a bit more frugal with their money probably hasn't helped their fortunes much either.
They've still got a sizable portion of the market though, I mean it's between them and AMD really, VIA gets a bit of the market, but Intel and AMD are the heavyweights, and if VR manages to get off the starting blocks properly then there could be a small renaissance for the PC as people seek to build the ultimate VR rig that has the peripherals to put you there. That being said, VR needs to come down to a more accessible price before that happens, so if there is going to be a surge then it's probably not for at least another five to six years.
Certainly though the actual physical Personal Computer is going to be evolving further in the near future, in both technical and non-technical manners, I predict a move into bio-tech for data transmission in the not-to-distant future, and a continuation of the transition of data from the physical hard-drive to the virtual 'cloud', of course that depends a lot on internet connection speed, but there may come a time when you don't even need a physical computer as such as the connection allows you to interact with a powerful gaming computer elsewhere in the world which streams the gaming experience to you based upon your inputs. That could work quite well with VR and take a big load off the public base needing beefy rigs in order to get a good experience.
It requires a lot of infrastructure upgrades though, and is probably going to be something for the next generation, most likely not in our lifetimes...well, maybe at the tail-end of mine. :hmmm:

Agreed but as long as there is some level of demand out there, there will always be a supplier.

[HunterICX]

Hardly a surpise as most people who are a gaming enthusiast build their own PC's instead of going to a shop and buy one that's prebuild and overpriced for what they have to offer and bloated with junkware of the manufacturer. Building your own is easy these days, it's cheaper and you know exactly what's inside the case in case if you wish to swap a part ouf for something better instead of having to buy a whole new PC.

[Commander Wallace]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the deeper infiltration of AMD chips into the mainstream market. I'm thinking it was Rockstar who had said they built a computer with an AMD board along with the accompanying AMD chip that in this case was a 6 core 3.5 GHZ unit. I remember it being said in this forum that it was working very well. If this wasn't Rockstar who built this, my apologies for getting that wrong.

Although Intel are better suited for different tasks than AMD chips, both have their strengths and for the basic user, those lines are very blurred. It seems Intel overly priced their chips and for a great number of users, AMD is a cost effective and attractive alternative to higher priced Intel chips.

[Platapus]

With more and more stuff being online or accessed through browsers, it is not surprising that the technology is lasting longer.

[Tycho]

It's my fault. :D
My home computer is 7 or 8 years.
On the workplace, I work with three computers. Two are very old single-core and with WinXP, one is dual-core on Win7, but is already 6 years. Will not buy new ones, because old ones dial well with their intended purpose.

[nikimcbee]

I can't wait for karma to catch up with these guys. Can you say H-1B visas?
they are laying off ~12000, which is a drop in the bucket for them. I'm surprised they are still in Kali-fornia,. They should close all that and move to Ore-gone. Most of their R&D is done there, oh wait, the marketing people are running the company....

Intel jumped the shark, when they aligned themselves with Lady Gaga.

[Onkel Neal]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the deeper infiltration of AMD chips into the mainstream market. I'm thinking it was Rockstar who had said they built a computer with an AMD board along with the accompanying AMD chip that in this case was a 6 core 3.5 GHZ unit. I remember it being said in this forum that it was working very well. If this wasn't Rockstar who built this, my apologies for getting that wrong.

Although Intel are better suited for different tasks than AMD chips, both have their strengths and for the basic user, those lines are very blurred. It seems Intel overly priced their chips and for a great number of users, AMD is a cost effective and attractive alternative to higher priced Intel chips.

AMD has not made a profit in 4 years.

But this week, their stock jumped 50%+, they have a deal going with China to supply CPUs for their upcoming server industry. :know:

[nikimcbee]

AMD has not made a profit in 4 years.

But this week, their stock jumped 50%+, they have a deal going with China to supply CPUs for their upcoming server industry. :know:

Zoinks!
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amds-stock-has-best-day-in-40-years-after-china-jv-deal-q1-results-2016-04-22

[nikimcbee]

Meanwhile, back on the farm...
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/blog/techflash/2016/04/intel-employees-expected-to-know-monday-of.html

progressivism sinking intel?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/intel-execs-receive-threats-employees-143631990.html

[Aktungbby]

AMD has not made a profit in 4 years.

But this week, their stock jumped 50%+, they have a deal going with China to supply CPUs for their upcoming server industry. :know:

Intel rules (manipulates?) the seas in the chip/PC trade I don't see a big lo$$ for their bottom-line... JEESE! I wonder who went out and bought AMD stock....:hmmm:

[Mr Quatro]

January 2014 I put together this PC for me:

Processor: AMD A-8-5600k APU 3.60 GHz with Radeon HD Graphics
installed memory (RAM) 16GB

Windows 7 64 bit

I like AMD cheap affordable easy to install and to keep cool

intel would cost $100 to $150 more which I could then spend on video card or more memory.

Now that I think about it I need a better PC, but have always lived on the premisive thought that if it works don't fix it.

[Oberon]

My old girl has been running more or less on the components I got for her in 2011. Heck, the main HDD is much older than that. I think the newest part is the RAM which I got a year or two ago, but the CPU, Mobo and GPU are all 2011 stock and they're still holding up alright.
I won't run GTAV on max settings (or quite possibly at any settings) but it works for what I want it to. :hmmm:

Of course, now I've typed this something will probably explode. :dead:

[Commander Wallace]

January 2014 I put together this PC for me:

Processor: AMD A-8-5600k APU 3.60 GHz with Radeon HD Graphics
installed memory (RAM) 16GB

Windows 7 64 bit

I like AMD cheap affordable easy to install and to keep cool

intel would cost $100 to $150 more which I could then spend on video card or more memory.

Now that I think about it I need a better PC, but have always lived on the premisive thought that if it works don't fix it.


Did you find that the AMD CPU ran hotter or did you put in extra cooling ? I understand the A-8 ran cooler than it's predecessors.

[Mr Quatro]

Did you find that the AMD CPU ran hotter or did you put in extra cooling ? I understand the A-8 ran cooler than it's predecessors.

Has a stock fan, runs day and night ... the air temperature in the room does make a difference however so I use a small table fan at the under the table case level and run the AC up here for me in the summer time.

[Dowly]

AMD CPU's tend to run a bit hot, but you can can easily fix that with a cheap CPU fan.

[Onkel Neal]

Wow, this leaves the market to ARM.:o

Intel could be on the verge of exiting the market for smartphones and standalone tablets, wasting billions of dollars it spent trying to expand in those markets.

The company is immediately canceling Atom chips, code-named Sofia and Broxton, for mobile devices, an Intel spokeswoman confirmed.

These are the first products on the chopping block as part of Intel's plan to reshape operations after announcing plans this month to cut 12,000 jobs.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3063508/components/intel-is-on-the-verge-of-exiting-the-smartphone-and-tablet-markets-after-cutting-atom-chips.html

[Torvald Von Mansee]

A friend of mine who works at Intel as a contractor tells me most of the people who are being fired are employees with benefits, some late in their career.

Of course, the important thing is that the executives get huge bonuses, am I right?

[nikimcbee]

A friend of mine who works at Intel as a contractor tells me most of the people who are being fired are employees with benefits, some late in their career.

Of course, the important thing is that the executives get huge bonuses, am I right?


You are correct. Hopefully these execs will burn in hades. They are letting engineers go. Brilliant! For every engineer they let go, I think they should let go of 10 corporate service people, as they are useless and serve no useful function. I would not want to be an exec there, they are a rudderless ship at the moment. But hey, they have Lady Gaga 's endorsement!

[Skybird]

https://www.thurrott.com/mobile/66904/can-google-apple-pull-plug-pc-market

[Onkel Neal]

https://www.thurrott.com/mobile/66904/can-google-apple-pull-plug-pc-market

Folks, this is a potential extinction moment, with Android and iOS playing the role of the asteroid that is hurtling to earth to kill off the Windows dinosaurs. And if you think PCs are a small part of personal computing today, it’s only going to get worse a few years down the road as an entire generation of Google-services-using, Apple-hardware-wielding youngsters streams into the workforce expecting to use the tools they’re familiar with. Our children are not growing up on Microsoft technologies. To them, Microsoft is as relevant as Sears, AOL or IBM.

Not convinced PCs will die out completely, but if their share of the market keeps diminishing, costs and innovation could be affected.

Google’s Making Its Own Chips Now. Time for Intel to Freak Out (http://www.wired.com/2016/05/googles-making-chips-now-time-intel-freak/)

9/10 for the title:har:

[vienna]

The whole Apple will replace MS in the business world argument has been going on for decades. Experience has taught me the demise of MS and MS-driven PCs is a bit exaggerated. For a very, very long time, generations raised in an Apple education technology environment have had to deal with the fact MS PCs are the very dominant presence in the real world business environment and have had to adapt to the fact. The idea businesses will scrap MS PCs and embrace Apple environments is false; the sheer cost of such a change would make any good-sized business balk. Apple really did itself in as far as PCs are concerned when they both over-priced their product and placed severe constraints on the ability of business to modify, scale, customize, and easily integrate their systems. Businesses did not choose MS and IBM products and clones because they were better than Apple products, they did so because they were less expensive, easier to service and maintain, and far more flexible than Apple devices and OSes. Apple thought they had a winning scheme when they threw their weight behind setting up educational programs designed to "hook" the young students and have them become acolytes who would spread the word of Apple unto the world; unfortunately for Apple, the business world was looking for fast and cheap, as always, and Apple was not cheap and, given its somewhat limited production capacity when PCs first came on the market, Apple was unable to provide product fast enough to meet demand. In the years I have had in the field of data processing, from mainframes to tablets, no matter what system or format, the person coming on to the job always has to adjust and adapt to the prevailing system. Apple is too far behind the curve when it comes to business needs: does anyone know of a major business running an Apple server?...

I don't think PC desktops will vanish altogether; they may remain in much the same manner as phonograph turntables, which, lately, have seen a significant resurgence of popularity, as have tube amplifiers for musicians and audiophiles. Where the real change will come is in the operating systems: the Apple OS has now been supplanted in worldwide popularity and use by Android and I would not be surprised to see desktops running Android-based OSes in the near future. Other OSes, like Linux, will have their adherents, but when it comes to developing a standardized, across all all devices and media OS system, Android is the big dog. If you've got to make all of your business be able to interact easily and cheaply, Android, with its wide base on so many personal devices currently has the upper hand...


<O>

[Commander Wallace]

The whole Apple will replace MS in the business world argument has been going on for decades. Experience has taught me the demise of MS and MS-driven PCs is a bit exaggerated. For a very, very long time, generations raised in an Apple education technology environment have had to deal with the fact MS PCs are the very dominant presence in the real world business environment and have had to adapt to the fact. The idea businesses will scrap MS PCs and embrace Apple environments is false; the sheer cost of such a change would make any good-sized business balk. Apple really did itself in as far as PCs are concerned when they both over-priced their product and placed severe constraints on the ability of business to modify, scale, customize, and easily integrate their systems. Businesses did not choose MS and IBM products and clones because they were better than Apple products, they did so because they were less expensive, easier to service and maintain, and far more flexible than Apple devices and OSes. Apple thought they had a winning scheme when they threw their weight behind setting up educational programs designed to "hook" the young students and have them become acolytes who would spread the word of Apple unto the world; unfortunately for Apple, the business world was looking for fast and cheap, as always, and Apple was not cheap and, given its somewhat limited production capacity when PCs first came on the market, Apple was unable to provide product fast enough to meet demand. In the years I have had in the field of data processing, from mainframes to tablets, no matter what system or format, the person coming on to the job always has to adjust and adapt to the prevailing system. Apple is too far behind the curve when it comes to business needs: does anyone know of a major business running an Apple server?...

I don't think PC desktops will vanish altogether; they may remain in much the same manner as phonograph turntables, which, lately, have seen a significant resurgence of popularity, as have tube amplifiers for musicians and audiophiles. Where the real change will come is in the operating systems: the Apple OS has now been supplanted in worldwide popularity and use by Android and I would not be surprised to see desktops running Android-based OSes in the near future. Other OSes, like Linux, will have their adherents, but when it comes to developing a standardized, across all devices and media OS system, Android is the big dog. If you've got to make all of your business be able to interact easily and cheaply, Android, with its wide base on so many personal devices currently has the upper hand...


<O>


:agree:

All of the things you describe will have their own niche or merits. Tube amplifiers for example enjoy a " true Sound " and are valued for not " coloring " or altering the sound of electric guitar pickups. Most blues guitarists will not touch a solid state or hybrid amplifier. That is not to say they don't have their own merits or value though. Tube amps require their tubes to be replaced with some regularity which also requires the amp to be " rebiased " Solid State amps don't have this issue .


Although android devices and laptop and notebooks are popular, I don't see desktops disappearing any time soon. Manufacturers may just shift their emphasis to whatever makes them the most money.