In an interview with Yahoo Finance, newly appointed Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said the ongoing competition between his company and Apple is "fun," while admitting that he hopes to reconcile with the Cupertino tech giant.
Over the next two years, Apple will transition its Mac lineup from Intel processors to its own Apple Silicon chips. Apple is already well advanced in the transition and has introduced three Mac computers based on its M1 SoC. Intel has then launched a marketing campaign to portray Macs and the M1 chip as inferior to Intel processors.
Intel: “Apple has become dependent on TSMC”
Despite the barrage of attacks, Gelsinger indicatedthat he hopes to win Apple back as a future customer. In his interview with Yahoo Finance, Gelsinger explained that Apple relies too heavily on its current supplier TSMC to manufacture Apple Silicon processors.
Apple is a customer and I hope to make them a big foundry customer because today they are totally dependent on Taiwan Semiconductor. We want to provide them with great opportunities to use our foundry services as well, just like we work with Qualcomm and Microsoft to use our foundry. We will deliver great technology, some things that can't be done anywhere else in the world.
Gelsinger: “Demand for PCs is higher than it has been for over a decade”
Gelsinger attributed the recent tight competition with Apple to the fact that there is still room for innovation in the industry and the bonus that PC demand is at its highest level in over a decade. Gelsinger went on to say that there is "a competitive fun to be had with Apple and the Mac ecosystem."
So obviously you've seen some of the competitive energies in chip manufacturing pick up again because there's a lot of great innovation. We haven't seen PC demand at this level in a decade and a half. The world needs more of it and there's a competitive fun to be had with Apple and the Mac ecosystem.
As part of its anti-Apple Silicon marketing campaign, Intel recently cast former “I'm a Mac” actor Justin Long as the lead actor in a series of commercials committedcomparing M1 Macs with laptops with Intel processors. Additionally, Intel has turned to Twitter for the campaign and created its own website to compare M1 Macs with PCs. (Image: Intel)
