Unilever logo is displayed in this illustration taken on January 17, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

Summary

Companies Spin-off of ice cream maker expected to be completed this year

In EU, UK, employment contracts can typically be renegotiated one year after spin-off

Ben & Jerry’s independent board members not involved in negotiations, source says

LONDON, May 27 (Reuters) – Ben & Jerry’s maker Unilever (ULVR.L) , opens new tab has agreed to guarantee its ice cream workers’ employment terms in Europe and Britain for at least three years after the business’ spin-off, according to a memo, tripling the usual period in such deals.

Under European Union and British legislation, employees’ contracts and collective agreements can be renegotiated one year after sales or spin-off deals.

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The decision will lock the new ice cream company into a three-year deal that will impact how it treats and pays employees in Europe, regardless of uncertainty or changes to the environment in which it operates.

Unilever announced the spin off of its ice cream unit, which includes five of the world’s top 10 category brands including Magnum and Wall’s, in March 2024 and said it would cut 7,500 jobs from the group globally to save costs. About 3,200 layoffs were initially expected in Europe but Reuters reported in November that the British consumer company had nearly halved this figure by moving people to the ice cream unit.

The new ice cream business will have its primary listing in Amsterdam

“Working conditions will be protected for at least three years and cannot be worsened,” according to the memo reviewed by Reuters and sent on Tuesday from the European Works Council to Unilever employees after nearly a year of negotiations with the company.

Unilever did not respond to a request for comment.

The ice cream unit’s roughly 6,000 workers will be able to maintain the same conditions on salaries, bonuses, share plans, pensions and holidays, according to a source familiar with the discussions with Mustafa Seçkin, the chairperson of the new company’s European business.

THE MAGNUM ICE CREAM COMPANY

The source, who did not have permission to speak with the press, said further layoffs were unlikely at the business, which generated sales of 8.3 billion euros ($9.4 billion) in 2024 and is to be named The Magnum Ice Cream Company.

On July 1, the business is expected to launch as an independent company under the Unilever umbrella, ahead of the demerger at the end of this year.

Ben & Jerry’s independent board members were not part of the negotiations with the European works council, nor were they consulted, the source said.

Unilever has been embroiled for nearly a year in an acrimonious legal battle with the independent board of Ben & Jerry’s, one of its biggest brands, over allegations that it is muzzling the Vermont-based company – including on political issues – hurting its ability to carry out its social mission.

($1 = 0.8809 euros)

Reporting by Richa Naidu; Editing by Lisa Jucca and Emelia Sithole-Matarise

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A smartphone with a displayed Intel logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

Summary

Companies First big turnaround move from new CEO Lip-Bu Tan

Intel promotes Sachin Katti as chief technology and AI officer

Tan aims to trim management layers for closer executive-engineer collaboration

Intel faces challenges from Nvidia in AI chip market

Next government affairs chief will report to Tan

SAN FRANCISCO, April 17 (Reuters) – Intel’s (INTC.O) , opens new tab new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, is flattening the semiconductor giant’s leadership team, with important chip groups reporting directly to him, according to a memo from Tan seen by Reuters.

Intel has also promoted networking chip chief Sachin Katti to be chief technology officer and artificial intelligence chief, according to the memo.

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The leadership changes are the first major move under Tan, who took the top job last month, to turn around the venerable Silicon Valley chipmaker after years of problems. Intel’s data center and AI chip group, as well as its personal-computer chip group, will report directly to him.

They previously were overseen by Michelle Johnston Holthaus, who remains chief executive of Intel products and whose work will expand to new areas.

“I want to roll up my sleeves with the engineering and product teams so I can learn what’s needed to strengthen our solutions,” Tan wrote. “As Michelle and I drive this work, we plan to evolve and expand her role with more details to come in the future.”

The shakeup by Tan, who has promised a leaner version of the storied American chipmaker, follows an extended period of turmoil at Santa Clara, California-based Intel.

The previous chief left last year following disagreements with its board of directors over how to turn the company around after years of manufacturing and product missteps. A top challenge is confronting the rise of Nvidia, which has become the dominant supplier of AI chips.

‘SLOWLY SUFFOCATING’ INNOVATION

Despite acquiring several AI chip startups, Intel failed to settle on a coherent strategy to challenge Nvidia, and in January shelved its most recent attempt, a chip called Falcon Shores. Developing the new AI strategy will fall to Katti.

Tan’s email says Katti “is expanding his responsibilities to include the role of chief technology and AI officer for the company. As part of this, he will lead our overall AI strategy and AI product roadmap, as well as Intel Labs and our relationships with the startup and developer ecosystems.”

Katti, who is also a professor at Stanford University, will succeed Greg Lavender, who is retiring from Intel, according to the memo.

Intel is looking for a new head of government affairs, who will also report to Tan, “given the critical importance of Government Affairs in a complex global environment,” the CEO wrote. The predecessor, Bruce Andrews, who had worked in the Commerce Department under then-President Barack Obama, left Intel after November’s U.S. elections.

The replacement will be responsible for managing Intel’s relationships with governments in the U.S. and abroad at a time when President Donald Trump has put steep tariffs on China, where Tan’s venture capital fund has extensive investments.

In recent years, Intel’s executive team had included many business unit leaders, with technical leaders often layers below the CEO. Tan’s memo said three longtime technical executives – Rob Bruckner, Mike Hurley and Lisa Pearce – will now report to Tan.

“This supports our emphasis on becoming an engineering-focused company and will give me visibility into what’s needed to compete and win,” Tan wrote.

The memo follows Tan’s public comments that he aimed to trim layers of management from the company so that executive leadership would work more closely with its engineers.

“It’s clear to me that organizational complexity and bureaucratic processes have been slowly suffocating the culture of innovation we need to win,” Tan said in the memo. “It takes too long to make decisions. New ideas are not given room or resources to incubate. And unnecessary silos lead to inefficient execution.”

Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Peter Henderson and William Mallard

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Summary

Companies Tan to focus on Intel Foundry and AI chip production, sources say

Tan aims to improve efficiency and revive Intel’s manufacturing prowess, sources say

New Intel CEO plan likely to include management reorganization, sources say

Tan is considering broadening Intel’s AI business, sources say

SAN FRANCISCO, March 17 (Reuters) – Intel’s incoming CEO Lip-Bu Tan has considered significant changes to its chip manufacturing methods and artificial intelligence strategies ahead of his return to the company on Tuesday, two people familiar with Tan’s thinking told Reuters, in a sweeping bid to revive the ailing technology giant.

The new trajectory includes restructuring the company’s approach to AI and staff cuts to address what Tan views as a slow-moving and bloated middle management layer. Revamping the company’s manufacturing operations, which at one time only made chips for Intel but have been repurposed to make semiconductors for outside clients such as Nvidia, is one of Tan’s core priorities, these sources said.

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The plans are still being formulated and could yet change, these sources said.

Intel (INTC.O) , opens new tab shares rose more than 8% in mid-day trading on Nasdaq.

At a town hall meeting following his appointment as CEO last week, he told employees that the company will need to make “tough decisions,” according to two other people briefed on the meeting.

Semiconductor industry expert Dylan Patel said a big problem under former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, who left the company in December, was that he was “too nice.” “He did not want to fire a bunch of middle management in the way they needed to,” he said.

Tan, 65, former CEO of chip design software firm Cadence and tech investor , was a member of Intel’s board until he resigned last August. In returning as CEO, Tan is set to take over the American icon after a decade of bad decisions by three CEOs in which it failed to build chips for smartphones and missed surging demand for AI processors, allowing competitors Arm Holdings and Nvidia (NVDA.O) , opens new tab to dominate those markets.

Intel (INTC.O) , opens new tab reported an annual loss of $19 billion in 2024, its first since 1986.

In the near term, Tan aims to improve performance at its manufacturing arm, Intel Foundry, which makes chips for other design companies such as Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tab and Amazon (AMZN.O) , opens new tab , by aggressively wooing new customers, according to the people.

It will also restart plans to produce chips that power AI servers and look to areas beyond servers in several areas such as software, robotics and AI foundation models.

“Lip-Bu will be spending a lot of time listening to customers, partners and employees as he comes on board and works closely with our leadership team to position the business for future success,” an Intel spokesman said in a prepared statement.

Intel declined to comment further or make Tan available for an interview. Tan’s venture firm, Walden Catalyst, did not respond to requests for comment.

Gelsinger committed tens of billions of dollars to build factories in the U.S. and Europe to make chips for both Intel and for outside customers, but he was forced to scale back those ambitions as the market for Intel’s core products cooled.

Intel logo is seen in this illustration taken February 16, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

BETTING ON AI

Tan has been a vocal internal critic of Gelsinger’s execution, according to the two sources familiar with Tan’s plans.

For most of its history, Intel has manufactured chips for only one client – itself. When Gelsinger became CEO in 2021, he prioritized manufacturing chips for others but fell short of providing the level of customer and technical service as rival TSMC, leading to delays and failed tests, former executives have told Reuters.

Tan’s views were shaped by months of reviewing Intel’s manufacturing process after the board in late 2023 appointed him to a special role overseeing it, according to a regulatory filing.

In his assessment, he expressed frustration with the company’s culture, sources told Reuters, saying it had lost the “only the paranoid survive” ethos enshrined by former CEO Andy Grove. He also came to believe that decision-making was slowed down by a bloated workforce, Reuters reported

Tan presented some of his ideas to Intel’s board last year, but they declined to put them into place, according to two people familiar with the matter. By August, Tan abruptly resigned over differences with the board, Reuters reported

When he returns as CEO this week, he will lay fresh eyes on Intel’s workforce, which was slashed by roughly 15,000 to almost 109,000 at the end of last year, the sources said.

Beyond the cuts, Tan has little choice but to make Intel’s existing manufacturing operation work in the short run. Intel’s next generation of advanced chips equipped with AI features, called Panther Lake, will depend on its in-house factories using a new set of techniques and technologies Intel calls “18A.”

Intel’s financial success this year is tied to strong sales of the forthcoming chip.

Tan signalled in a memo Intel published Wednesday that he plans to keep control over the factories, which remain financially and operationally separate from the design business and restore Intel’s position as a “world-class foundry.”

Intel’s contract manufacturing operation can succeed if Tan wins over at least two large customers to produce a high volume of chips, industry analysts and Intel executives told Reuters.

Part of the effort to lure large customers will involve improving Intel’s chip manufacturing process to make it easier for potential customers like Nvidia and Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O) , opens new tab Google to use.

Intel has demonstrated improvements in its manufacturing processes in recent weeks and has attracted interest from Nvidia and Broadcom that have launched early test runs , Reuters reported. Advanced Micro Devices is also evaluating Intel’s process.

Tan is expected to work on ways to improve output or “yield” to deliver higher numbers of chips printed on each silicon wafer as they move to volume manufacturing of its first in-house chip using the so-called 18A process this year.

The goal is to move to an annual release schedule of AI chips, similar to Nvidia, but that will take years. It will be at least 2027 before Intel can develop a compelling new architecture for a first AI chip, according to three industry sources, and one person familiar with Intel’s progress.

Max A. Cherney in San Francisco; editing by Kenneth Li and Michael Learmonth

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