Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger Hopes to Win Back Apple’s Business by Making Better Chips

Intel Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger still hopes to win back Apple as a customer, but says Intel will have to outcompete the tech giant to do so.

In an interview aired Sunday night on “Axios on HBO,” Gelsinger told Axios reporter Ina Fried that he doesn’t blame Apple for dropping Intel and deciding to make its own chips.

However, the CEO has set his sights on getting Apple back as a customer.

“I would hope to win back this piece of their business, as well as many other pieces of business, over time,” Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger told Axios in an interview that aired on Sunday.

Overall, Gelsinger said he’d “never give up on the idea of anything not running on Intel chips.” But with regards to Apple, he acknowledged Intel had faced “stumbles” in trying to retain the Cupertino company as a chip customer. “You know, Apple decided they could do a better chip themselves than we could, and they did a pretty good job,” he said.

Apple’s effort culminated in the M1 chip, an ARM-based processor that can indeed outperform Intel chips in certain benchmarks. Last year, the company began integrating the M1 processor into new MacBooks while phasing out Intel chip adoption.

Gelsinger said his goal is to upgrade Intel’s chips to the point Apple will have to reconsider using ARM-based processors for Macs.

“So what I have to do is create a better chip than they can do themselves,” he said in the interview. “In the meantime, I got to make sure our products are better than theirs, that my ecosystem is more open and vibrant than theirs.”