Intel’s transformation under CEO Lip-Bu Tan is entering a ruthless new phase. The company, which only days ago revealed $2.9 billion in quarterly losses and the slashing of 15% of its workforce (something in the works since last year), is now spinning off its Network and Edge Group (NEX) as a standalone business. It’s the latest move in a "sweeping effort" to streamline Intel’s core operations while divesting anything that doesn’t fit Tan’s new, AI-first strategy.
The plan, confirmed through a customer memo first reported by CRN and later corroborated by The Register, outlines Intel’s intention to find strategic investors for NEX. Intel will remain an “anchor investor,” much like it did with Altera—the programmable logic division it acquired in 2015 and partially sold off earlier this year. The NEX business, which covers networking silicon, Ethernet, and communications infrastructure, will now chart its own course.
