Three former Intel board members—Charlene Barshefsky, Reed Hundt, and James Plummer—have proposed in a Fortune op-ed that the company “go private” and undergo a significant restructuring following recent stake acquisitions by NVIDIA and the U.S. government.
The recommendation to take the company private is primarily intended to shift Intel’s focus from meeting quarterly financial targets for public shareholders to concentrating on long-term product development. In the op-ed, the former members suggest that a U.S.-led consortium should acquire all of Intel’s publicly traded stock. This proposal comes after capital markets reacted positively to Intel’s recent partnership with NVIDIA, which was viewed as a boost for Intel’s operations. The authors argue that going private would allow the company to capitalize on this momentum without the immediate pressures of public reporting.
A central element of the proposed strategy involves splitting Intel into two separate and distinct business units. One entity would be dedicated to chip design, while the other would function as an independent semiconductor manufacturing operation, or foundry. This separation would draw upon Intel’s existing advanced manufacturing assets. The creation of a successful, independent U.S.-based foundry is presented as a way to reduce the current dependence of major American semiconductor design firms on overseas manufacturers like TSMC, which currently dominates the market.
According to the former board members, such a strategic maneuver would strongly align with U.S. national security and economic interests. They specifically noted that establishing a formidable domestic foundry would be a significant achievement for the technology and manufacturing objectives of the Trump administration. The move would address long-standing concerns about the concentration of the chip supply chain outside of the United States.
The op-ed also highlights talent acquisition as a key benefit of going private. The authors contend that as a private entity, Intel would be better positioned to offer highly competitive compensation packages needed to retain and attract top-tier AI talent. This would be critical in addressing the company’s current talent drain and advancing its ambitions in artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. The former members project that this strategy could lead to a significant corporate recovery by 2028, generating billions of dollars in value for American taxpayers while bolstering national security.
The NVIDIA partnership is identified as an unexpected catalyst that creates a unique opportunity for Intel to implement such a transformative strategy. However, the authors acknowledge that their proposal involves considerable complexities. These challenges include the overhead and logistical difficulties of delisting all public stock from the market, as well as the necessity of addressing the financial concerns and interests of current shareholders during the transition.
