Intel Should “Go Private” and Split Into Foundry & Chip Design Units Following NVIDIA and US Government Stake, Say Former Board Members

Sep 21, 2025 at 04:46am EDT
Intel's CEO Lip-Bu Tan with Intel building in background

Well, Intel's former board members have put up rather 'interesting' opinions on how the firm should move ahead following the NVIDIA deal, and they believe that Team Blue should "go private".

Intel's Decision To Go Private Will Bring In "Hundreds of Billions" To Taxpayers By 2028, Believes Former Board Members

The Intel-NVIDIA deal was indeed a shocker since no one anticipated Jensen & Co. collaborating with a rather sluggish Intel. Based on how the capital markets reacted, the partnership was seen as a huge boost for Team Blue and its operations. However, in an op-ed piece on Fortune, Intel's former board members such as Charlene Barshefsky, Reed Hundt and James Plummer have expressed their opinions on how Intel should proceed ahead following the stake acquisitions by USG and NVIDIA, and according to them, the firm should go private to capitalize the most.

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The board members claim that their suggestion primarily focuses on Intel not 'worrying' about delivering their financial goals to stakeholders, but instead focuses on building products. They believe that a US-led 'consortium' should acquire all of Intel's public stock, following the response seen with the NVIDIA deal, and more importantly, should ensure that a design and foundry split-off occurs as well.

The creation of a successful foundry, drawn from Intel’s manufacturing assets and separated from the design businesses, would be a big win for the Trump administration. It would be even bigger win for the big semiconductor design firms that are otherwise totally dependent on TSMC

Another interesting advantage of going private, according to former board members, is that Intel will be able to retain and grab AI talent, since private firms apparently offer 'huge sums of money', and with Team Blue's current talent drain, advancing in the realm of AI and other emerging industries isn't feasible. They project that Intel could be in a much better position by 2028 if the firm goes private, bringing billions to American taxpayers and also being a win for national security.

These are certainly interesting opinions to consider, especially since they do come from Intel's former board members. However, going private has many complications, mainly considering the overhead involved in selling all public stock and, of course, shareholder concerns. But, with this op-ed, one of the more 'sensible' points is that Intel needs to come up with an entirely different strategy to get out of the financial mess, and with the NVIDIA deal onboard, it seems like there's a massive opportunity for Team Blue.

About the author: Muhammad Zuhair is a hardware and technology reporter for Wccftech, specializing in the semiconductor industry and the complex interplay between technology, manufacturing, and geopolitics. His coverage focuses on the corporate strategies and technological roadmaps of industry giants like TSMC, NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel. Zuhair's expertise lies in deconstructing complex topics such as fabrication nodes (e.g., 2nm process), the economic impact of policies like the CHIPS Act, and the strategic development of AI infrastructure from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.

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