Image: Slejven Djurakovic / Protocol
Intel’s $20 billion bet on chips

Good morning! This Wednesday, Intel has a plan to solve the chip shortage, AWS has a new CEO, Slack becomes a complete messaging app and Prince Harry gets a tech job.
(Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here to get Source Code every day. And you can text with us, too, by signing up here or texting 415-475-1729.)
Anna Kramer writes: The biggest name in cloud has a new CEO: Adam Selipsky. Here are a few things you should know about the man who will now control AWS — and, by extension, an awful lot of the internet.
After Selipsky takes on the new role in May, Amazon CEO and former AWS CEO Andy Jassy said the two of them will "spend the subsequent weeks transitioning together." Then Selipsky will assume the top job sometime in the fall.
And while Selipsky is not what anyone would call an out-of-the-box hire, hey, at least his name isn't Jeff.
Pat Gelsinger hasn't been Intel's CEO for very long, but he's already shaking up the company. Gelsinger announced yesterday that Intel plans to spend $20 billion to create new factories in Arizona, Protocol's Tom Krazit writes — and those new facilities won't just create chips for Intel.
The investment will underpin its third-party manufacturing business, Intel Foundry Services — a small part of the company that is about to become decidedly not small. Randhir Thakur, the head of IFS, is about to become very important.
This is Intel's way of addressing the global chip shortage, and the fact that the U.S. is no longer a lead in chip manufacturing.
All this is going to take a while.Gelsinger said himself that Intel won't be back to "unquestioned CPU leadership performance" until at least 2024.
But hurdles aside, this is a very big deal. It's big for Chandler, Arizona, where two new plants will be built inside an existing Intel facility. (Intel's promising 3,000 new high-tech jobs in the area. And don't forget TSMC is also building a factory in Arizona.) It's big for the Biden administration, which gets a win in its efforts to make the U.S. more competitive in the semiconductor space. And it's big for Intel, which desperately needs a path back to the top of the chip world. No pressure, then, Pat.
Slack is a full-fledged messaging app now. Starting today, you can Slack with any other Slack user on the planet. All you have to do is invite them. It's part of Slack's plan to become much more than a way you chat with your coworkers: It wants to be your entire workplace, your entire industry, all in a single app.
Slack's pitch goes like this: Slack is more secure and more IT-manageable than email, it's more powerful than text messages, and it's simpler and less invasive than incessant phone calls. Plus, you're probably already in it all day.
It's a clever move for Slack, not to mention a much-needed one; Microsoft Teams and Google Chat are pretty clearly going to sew up the "chat with your co-workers" market just by virtue of being free and bundled. Slack is leaning into being the connective tissue for all the people you talk to for work, all the apps you use and all the stuff you deal with. It's an organizational layer masquerading as a messaging app.
If you want to know more, I wrote a bigger story about Slack's plans, and interviewed Chief Product Officer Tamar Yehoshua on the Source Code podcast. And if you want someone to Slack with, I'm always here.
A recent report studying voluntary increases to wages by businesses found that when Amazon raised its pay to $15 in 2018, it led to a 4.7% increase in wages for employees at other companies in the same market. The study also found no significant job losses in the community after the wage increase.
On Protocol: Most people have no idea what it's like to work in an Amazon warehouse, "Fulfillment" author Alec MacGillis said:
In announcing the umpteenth pivot for Medium, Ev Williams said he'd decided once again that running publications wouldn't work and funding creators is the future:
Proton CEO Andy Yen said that "Apple stands in the way of human rights":
Sundar Pichai sent a note to Googlers last week, after the shootings in Atlanta:
Prince Harry (yes, that Prince Harry) is the new chief impact officer at BetterUp. He'll work on "product strategy decisions and charitable contributions," The Wall Street Journal reported.
Jenna Owens is the new COO at GameStop, joining from Amazon.
Stacey Epstein is the new CMO at Freshworks, joining from ServiceMax.
Sharon Chiarella is the new chief product officer at Stitch Fix, joining from Amazon.
Gilles BianRosa is N26's new chief product officer, joining from SoundCloud.
Robinhood confidentially filed for an IPO. It could reportedly go public next quarter.
On Protocol | Enterprise: ServiceNow bought RPA provider Intellibot, with plans to incorporate India-based Intellibot's automation capabilities into its own product suite. UiPath, meanwhile, bought Cloud Elements.
Twitter acquired API platform Reshuffle, as it continues to try and improve its relationship with developers.
It's a house! Not a real house, obviously, a digital NFT house. But "Mars House" sold for real-house money, hitting 288 ETH (or about $512,000). Still, there's a twist: Everything in the design is possible to make in the real world, and the buyer also won the right to use the house in digital worlds too, but only on "a single Metaverse platform." It'll be the nicest house in Roblox, I can tell you that much.
A recent report studying voluntary increases to wages by businesses found that when Amazon raised its pay to $15 in 2018, it led to a 4.7% increase in wages for employees at other companies in the same market. The study also found no significant job losses in the community after the wage increase.
Today's Source Code was written by David Pierce, with help from Anna Kramer and Shakeel Hashim. Thoughts, questions, tips? Send them to david@protocol.com, or our tips line, tips@protocol.com. Enjoy your day; see you tomorrow.
To give you the best possible experience, this site uses cookies. If you continue browsing. you accept our use of cookies. You can review our privacy policy to find out more about the cookies we use.