It’s not a great day for Intel and some 15,000 workers. In the earning call last week the CPU giant revealed that while they hit their revenue target numbers this past quarter there are storm clouds on the horizon. Challenges from AI companies as well as issues with some of their most recent chip designs has Pat Gelsinger looking to cut costs. The way that was expressed to the industry was through massive layoffs. Intel is shedding 15% of their overall workforce and suspending the payment of dividends through the end of the year. Analysts, including our own Daniel Newman, have said that Intel is facing some headwinds and they have projects on the table that they need to deliver upon. This and more on The Rundown. Thank you Jon Swartz for cohosting this week.
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1:16 – Delta Unhappy with Crowdstrike
Welcome to the circular firing squad segment. Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian puts price tag on CrowdStrike fiasco: $500 million, and threatens legal action. CrowdStrike shareholders sue their company. But who is really to blame? And where does Microsoft stand in all this, not to mention Delta? On Monday, CrowdStrike pointed the finger, probably the middle one, at Delta, claiming the airline ignored offers of help during the service meltdown. Maybe everyone in this situation is to blame? More than 6,000 lost flights, impacting half a million people after Bastian boasted of Delta’s tech prowess for years. This will dominate black hat as companies and their marketeers play up fear to the masses.
Read More: CrowdStrike unhappy about Delta’s ‘litigation threat,’ claims airline refused ‘free on-site help’
3:54 – European Commission Approves HPE’s Juniper Networks Acquisition
The EU has decided there are no concerns with the Juniper Networks being acquired by HPE. According to a report released last week, the commission doing the investigation decided that the merger would not significantly reduce the competition in the networking market. This analysis was helped by the fact that HPE and Juniper are not the closest of competitors, according to investigators. The deal is not expected to be analyzed by China due to it falling below an investigation threshold, leaving the US Federal Trade Commission as the last hurdle.
Read More: European Commission Green-Lights HPE’s $14 Billion Acquisition of Juniper Networks
8:04 – Google Loses Antitrust Suit
A US federal judge has ruled that Google’s deals to be the default search engine on a number of devices and operating systems is a violation of anti-trust law. Amit Mehta concluded that the deals reduce competition in the search industry and gave Google an unfair advantage. Google has reportedly paid a number of companies billions of dollars every year to be the default search. Penalties are still to be determined by industry experts say this move could have a significant impact on how Google approaches their search and ad business. Where does it go now that it can’t pay Apple $20 billion, as it did in 2022, to make Google the default search engine on Safari? Or for that matter, not pay Samsung or Verizon? This decision will have a domino effect on Google and its search partners.
Read More: Google ‘is a monopolist’ in search, US judge rules in antitrust case
12:03 – US DoJ Says Crawl to NVIDIA’s Run:ai Acquisition
If you’re a big tech company there’s a word that makes your blood run cold: scrutiny. In this case, the folks at NVIDIA have to be frustrated because their acquisition of Israeli startup Run:ai is now on hold as the US Departement of Justice wants to take another look at the specifics. Specifically, the US Government is asking whether or not the purchase would reduce competition in the emerging AI market as well as further cementing NVIDIA as the dominant player in the same market. The move is but one of the investigations that the government has opened up into AI companies as the technology has raced to impressive valuations.
Read More: US probes Nvidia’s acquisition of Israeli AI startup
17:32 – Intel’s Mass Layoffs
It’s not a great day for Intel and some 15,000 workers. In the earning call last week the CPU giant revealed that while they hit their revenue target numbers this past quarter there are storm clouds on the horizon. Challenges from AI companies as well as issues with some of their most recent chip designs has Pat Gelsinger looking to cut costs. The way that was expressed to the industry was through massive layoffs. Intel is shedding 15% of their overall workforce and suspending the payment of dividends through the end of the year. Analysts, including our own Daniel Newman, have said that Intel is facing some headwinds and they have projects on the table that they need to deliver upon. This is a pretty big story so I’m going to let you start, Jon.
Read More: Intel’s Q2 2024 Earnings Release: Navigating Challenges and Strategic Shifts
Read More: Intel is laying off over 15,000 employees and will stop ‘non-essential work’
26:41 – The Weeks Ahead
AI Field Day 5 – September 11 – 12
Edge Field Day 3 – September 18 – 19
Gestalt IT and Tech Field Day are now part of The Futurum Group.
The Gestalt IT Rundown is your look at the IT news of the week. Be sure to subscribe to Gestalt IT on YouTube for even more weekly video content.
