The consumer graphics unit will be combined with Intel's
client computing group, which makes chips for personal computers, while
accelerated computing teams will join its data centre and artificial
intelligence (AI) business, the company said.
The move comes as Intel doubles down on accelerated
computing, a growing segment dominated by Nvidia as AI use surges.
"I don't think it changes much (if anything) other than
aligning the products with the respective sales organizations they fit with vs.
having them as a discrete segment," Wedbush Securities analyst Matthew
Bryson said.
Raja Koduri, who led the graphic chips unit, will return to
his role as chief architect and oversee the company's long-term technology and
chip design strategy.
Koduri, who has led graphics technology ventures at iPhone
maker Apple and AMD, joined Intel in 2017.
Earlier this month, it was reported that Intel had backed
away from its original target of opening a chip factory in the eastern German
city of Magdeburg in the first half of 2023. Regional newspaper Volksstimme
reported that the semiconductor giant wanted more public subsidies.
The plant is central to German and European Union plans to
strengthen the continent's resilience by doing more manufacturing locally after
the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine highlighted the risks of
long, globe-spanning supply chains.
But the newspaper said that surging energy and raw materials
prices had upset the US company's original calculations. Where Intel had
originally budgeted for costs of EUR 17 billion (USD 18 billion), prices were
now closer to EUR 20 billion, the paper said.