Hector Ruiz advises Intel to split up

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 03/25/2013 09:40 AM | Source | 17 comment(s)

First off, Hector Ruiz is the man who is responsible for the state of AMD as it is right now. Now speaking to BusinessWeek, former AMD CEO Hector Ruiz gave some advice to Intel's next CEO on how to take the company forward. Ruiz explains Intel is no longer the firm it was a decade ago, and says Intel needs to make clear to the world that it's in the computing business, and not purely a PC company. Second, Ruiz says Intel would do well to split up the company and move toward becoming a portfolio company consisting of autonomous business units, each with a clear vision and value proposition.

Divvy up the company. Intel dominates the PC market, and the PC market dominates Intel. The company needs to get out of its own way or risk going the way of Boeing (BA), a masterful maker of jumbo jets that entirely missed the boom in regional travel. In that case, Brazil’s Embraer (ERJ) saw the need for smaller commuter planes and, having achieved dominance in that market, is now challenging Boeing on its turf. Intel can’t let its powerful PC business squash innovation that could help it establish leadership in mobile technology; soon its competitors in mobile may get strong enough to eat away at its PC market share, especially with the advent of new three-dimensional interconnect technology for microprocessors—where no one yet has the competitive edge.

My advice to Intel: Split the businesses.

Move toward becoming a portfolio company, with autonomous business units, each of which has a clear vision and value proposition. One focused on big data and the high-end market for servers, another focused on the PC and similar markets, and a third dedicated entirely to mobility. With intelligent restructuring, they all can benefit enormously from the parent’s superior manufacturing capability. Then revisit and, if necessary, repeat the process in three to five years.

Considering the state in which Ruiz left AMD we doubt Intel's next CEO will take advice from him.

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pimp_gimp
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#4561541 Posted on: 03/25/2013 10:53 AM

If I were Intel I wouldn't listen to him, as his business strategies are driving AMD into the ground.

Neo Cyrus
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#4561551 Posted on: 03/25/2013 11:18 AM

Was he the genius who decided that the Bulldozer architecture was a great idea?

TheDeeGee
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#4561556 Posted on: 03/25/2013 11:27 AM

If i were Hector Ruiz id advise him to shut up.

nicugoalkeper
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#4561563 Posted on: 03/25/2013 11:36 AM

He wants to destroy Intel like he does whit AMD !

Texter
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#4561567 Posted on: 03/25/2013 11:55 AM

Why doesn't he just advise them to quit while they're ahead...

Solfaur
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#4561589 Posted on: 03/25/2013 12:48 PM

After he said that, he probably was like

mmicrosysm
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#4561623 Posted on: 03/25/2013 02:24 PM

I'm going to suggest to my wife we split up and become a Portfolio Marriage...

Loobyluggs
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#4561628 Posted on: 03/25/2013 02:38 PM

I'm going to suggest to my wife we split up and become a Portfolio Marriage...

I was talking to her the other night, I think she might like that idea

OT: Don't Intel have lots of subs as it is? Not sure of his logic here.

Lane
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#4561632 Posted on: 03/25/2013 02:46 PM

If I were Intel I wouldn't listen to him, as his business strategies are driving AMD into the ground.

IPlayNaked
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#4561650 Posted on: 03/25/2013 03:05 PM

Well Ruiz have resign from AMD a long time ago ( 5-6 years ? ).

Note, the idea of split Intel into 2 independant buisness ( like is doing Samsung ), one for Mobile ( Smarpthone, tablet ) and the other for PC / server processors is not a so bad idea. Now i dont know exactly if it will really change anything. Splitting is not really the word, it is too separate both buisness under the name of Intel. ( intel Mobile, and Intel )

Honestly, he's just answering a question asked of him, not giving his opinion randomly.

But anyway, he's just suggesting they put bigger barriers between each section of the company, because as it is now, the company tends to swing one way or the other. His assertion is that that makes them too slow to respond to markets, which is true.

For instance, all of Intel is in "power management mode" right now. It's just, bring down power, bring down power, at the cost of just about everything else. IPC improvements are slow to nil and clock speed improvements aren't anywhere to be found either.

The idea is that Intel divides their teams better to keep their desktop processors focused on improvements in performance while the mobile category gets the power consumption down at all costs.

It's not such a terrible idea. While he was wrong once, it doesn't mean he has to always be wrong.

sykozis
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#4561841 Posted on: 03/25/2013 07:01 PM

It's quite obvious that Ruiz knows little to nothing about Intel (which is about what he knows about running a company in general). Intel has their hands in numerous electronics markets in one form or another. Slow to respond isn't exactly what I'd call their reactions. They respond quite quickly to most market changes. Market response doesn't always mean shoving a new product out the door. Sometimes, it simply means acknowledging the changes. Intel has had time to study the mobile market.....to see what works, what doesn't....where they are, and where they need to be. It makes no sense to rush into a market. Intel is well known for quality products....and rushing to get a new product out the door risks product quality. Not something you want happening with your mobile products.... Besides, Intel can push new products out the door very quickly....unlike ARM. Intel has the R&D and Fab capability needed to outpace ARM.....plus they have a license from ARM....what more do they really need? Dividing the company actually risks financial problems later as the desktop market winds down.

Well Ruiz have resign from AMD a long time ago ( 5-6 years ? ).

Note, the idea of split Intel into 2 independant buisness ( like is doing Samsung ), one for Mobile ( Smarpthone, tablet ) and the other for PC / server processors is not a so bad idea. Now i dont know exactly if it will really change anything. Splitting is not really the word, it is too separate both buisness under the name of Intel. ( intel Mobile, and Intel )

Ruiz resigned? I thought he got fired for being incompetent....

pimp_gimp
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#4561881 Posted on: 03/25/2013 07:41 PM

Well Ruiz have resign from AMD a long time ago ( 5-6 years ? ).)

Doesn't really matter whether he resigned or was fired, Intel should be smarter than to listen, as I said his business strategies suck. Splitting up Intel could be good, but it could also be bad, we don't know but neither does he. Also rather than staying with AMD to fix the mess he created, he resigned. Funny to note that he resigned shortly after they reported a quarterly loss. That makes me question his leadership skills.

Tat3
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#4561994 Posted on: 03/25/2013 09:28 PM

Without Ruiz AMD would have died 10 years ago. The man who saved AMD and fixed other peoples mistakes, without him Intel CPU prices for C2D (and so on) would have been much higher... Also, I wonder who would have bought ATI and where we would on that sector without Ruiz.

Brilliant man now being given advices and made fun of by few chaps on PC forum who likely dont know anything about CPU design or that market. Not saying that I know either but I was not the one telling him what went wrong what he should have done. It's also damn lot easier to look back and say what went wrong than make those hard decisions at the right time. Buying AMD, K10 and Bulldozer... I dont recall many saying those were bad calls when info about those came public. BTW. Not much you can do when you do not have the resources compared to Intel, you have to cut corners and that can either pay off big time or cause big problems.

Worth reading:
http://www.overclockers.com/the-man-who-killed-amd/

PhazeDelta1
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#4562024 Posted on: 03/25/2013 10:10 PM

Worth reading:
http://www.overclockers.com/the-man-who-killed-amd/

I read an article a couple years ago that that read similar to that one. I have said from the beginning that the biggest mistake AMD ever made was buying ATI. When they could of sunk that $5 billion into R&D for their CPUs.

tsunami231
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#4562277 Posted on: 03/26/2013 04:34 AM

I read an article a couple years ago that that read similar to that one. I have said from the beginning that the biggest mistake AMD ever made was buying ATI. When they could of sunk that $5 billion into R&D for their CPUs.

well the 5b went to R&D for ATI cards I guess cause they way more advanced compared to the cpu of amd lmao

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