Intel brings back workers’ free coffee, seeking to stem morale decline

They sat on their laurels for too long and got too complacent. The Core series was so awesome that AMD took 10 years to catch up....but catch up AMD did while Intel decided kind of side step performance improvements for like 8 generations.
Merom (aka Core) was that miracle chip spawned from their Israeli mobile division which has carried them for 20 years.

Prior to that, in the Netburst days, they essentially paid OEMs to forgo using AMD’s chips even though they were superior. AMD sued in 2005 and Intel settled for $1.25 billion in 2009. The EU also fined Intel for anticompetitive practices in this timeframe.

If it weren’t for Merom and if it weren’t for anticompetitive practices, Intel would have been facing this same fate a long time ago.

The point I’m trying to make is that not much really changed, their small mobile division just created one really good architecture 20 years ago. That was actually the outlier, not the norm.
 
Merom (aka Core) was that miracle chip spawned from their Israeli mobile division which has carried them for 20 years.

Prior to that, in the Netburst days, they essentially paid OEMs to forgo using AMD’s chips even though they were superior. AMD sued in 2005 and Intel settled for $1.25 billion in 2009. The EU also fined Intel for anticompetitive practices in this timeframe.

If it weren’t for Merom and if it weren’t for anticompetitive practices, Intel would have been facing this same fate a long time ago.

The point I’m trying to make is that not much really changed, their small mobile division just created one really good architecture 20 years ago. That was actually the outlier, not the norm.
Ah, I didn't really know most of that. I just started computers as a hobby during the P4 and athlon XP days (back when the CPU and MaximumPC were magazines!!!!) before professionally getting into it.
 
I thought ALL workplaces provided free coffee until my wife got a job at fancy UW Medical center in imaging data management. No free coffee or tea.

I guess I was lucky.
 
All I need is some instant Maxwell House coffee with 100 mg of caffeine to get me going in the morning.

Intel is in big trouble and major jobs cuts will only help so much.

Is Intel a has been company from the past with no real innovation ?
 
My company provides unlimited free coffee. Since its a 24/7 operation, TONS of the coffee packages go home in people lunch kits. TONS and TONS of it. I think they supply all their friends and families, seriously.

Crazy thing is, the company stocks Gatoraid mix in the warehouse, too. I asked if I could have a small can of the powder since I don't drink coffee, and was told NO! They told me "I work indoors" so gatoraid is "just for employees out in the heat". I asked where in the policy book is that stated, and they can't find it. So I just bought my own for $7 mix while the massive coffee theft continues unabated. LOL.
 
The company I work for has never given us coffee and they took away our free water a few years ago. All of us coffee drinkers share the expense for the office coffee. Can't really complain though as this company pays me more than I ever thought I'd make, and the working conditions are otherwise very good.
 
No free coffee at the office, so I brought my own machine:
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The company I retired from provided free coffee , bottled water , and for the field guys , sports drinks during summer months . Any training sessions that lasted past noon had lunch catered in .
 
Amongst the layoffs and cessation of free coffee, Intel should look more closely at the CEO's $3M bonus (okay, it was last year's bonus, but still...).
 
Free coffee is cheaper than giving people raises. I'm guess Intel employees aren't getting raises.
Semi's are not doing well. Nvidia might be, but not others. Semiconductor is cyclical, but at the moment, it seems propped up by a few big players. Hard to give out raises when the numbers aren't good.

Wonder what their compensation model is like? Do they have target bonuses? One way of dealing with a cyclical model is to hand out bonuses in good years, none in bad. In an attempt to avoid layoffs and perhaps to allow cost of living raises in bad years.

Free coffee is nice, but for a few years I made two pots of coffee in the morning, taking a large carafe with me, as the free stuff was not worth it. Glad it is better now, but I try to not "expect" the perk.
 
What kind of office job doesn't provide coffee? Genuinely didn't know that was a thing.
Except for a brief stint in retail when I was RIF-ed, I've worked office jobs all of my life so there are no manufacturing/clean room/safety issues that would prevent people walking around with containers. Two places I worked had free coffee/tea, the rest had a cafeteria where you could buy coffee/tea.
 
I'm still wondering how this happened during an alleged chip shortage.
I'm not sure why it's "alleged". Wafers were hard to come by due to the pandemic.

As to why Intel may have fallen behind (before, during or after the pandemic), no idea, don't work there and don't follow them. Easy for me to believe that's straight up incompetent management, that's usually the problem, if not always. Failure to adapt when the market changes, or the typical mis-steps if the market is good (but one gets undercut by the competition).
 
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