Newsletter
Intel has confirmed that the reported sale of Intel Capital’s capital investments arm will not go through and has stressed that the Intel Capital team is an essential component of the global firm, sourcing and supporting technology sectors worldwide in a big way. In a blog post, Wendell Brooks, the incumbent president of Intel Capital, has stressed that the capital investments arm will not be part of a massive cull that Intel is planning on to reorganize its structure. He intends to work on the investment arm’s track record and will continue to invest on strategic and non-strategic sectors. Elsewhere, Intel has announced as many as 12,000 job cuts, or a reduction of 11% of its staff, that will take effect from now until the middle of next year.
Given that Intel is presently focussing on the emerging Internet of Things concept which will drive billions of smart, connected devices in the near future, the role of Intel Capital will be crucial. By working as a pathfinder for new technologies and pushing investments, they will accelerate Intel’s R&D in the concept and will render itself indispensable. Brooks states that Intel Capital has “an unrivalled opportunity to bring entrepreneurs value beyond capital through Intel’s vast global network of technologists, partners and customers. Intel Capital takes an active role in applying those assets to help entrepreneurs deliver disruptive new technologies to market.” As of now, Intel has made some path-breaking investments in the Internet of Things ecosystem which include Lumiata which uses AI and predictive analytics to help surgeons coordinate patient care, ProGlove which produces SmartGloves to help companies monitor data on speed, safety and quality of workers and Maana which creates knowledge graphs based on large amounts of customer data to help employees make smarter decisions. Brooks adds that Intel Capital will invest in the range of $300 to $500 million every year on such technologies.
Apart from investing heavily in IoT, Intel is also investing its efforts on manufacturing advanced processors for smartphones in the near future. The company produced the Intel Atom X3, X5 and X7 processors for tablets, phablets and smartphones last year which offer performance very similar to Qualcomm’s advanced System on Chips. Even though Intel Capital will have little to do with smartphone technologies, it will nevertheless play a massive role when smartphones begin to do the job of IoT devices and will be much more capable of performing smart functions than they are now. Even though Intel Capital will retain its existence, it will still go though some internal reshufflings and job cuts to streamline investments, give start-ups more exposure and to ensure the portfolio is serviced even after initial investments have been made.