[lmm]

That doesn't necessarily mean that there was a better path available to them. If Intel moved away from x86, a lot of their strategic advantages would disappear; they'd be one player among many, and they wouldn't have the vertical integration advantages of people actually making full ARM-based systems. Meanwhile there's plenty of money to be made from x86 for decades yet, from clients that put a high value on backward compatibility (which Apple don't, not in the same way - after all, they've done this twice already).

[fauigerzigerk]

>If Intel moved away from x86, a lot of their strategic advantages would disappear; they'd be one player among many

They are in fact one player among many. Their strategic advantages have evaporated. The entire mobile space passed them by and now AMD is seriously threatening their x86 business. Something has clearly gone very wrong at Intel. Shareholders can't be happy about that.

[lmm]

> The entire mobile space passed them by

True, but only a small minority of companies that went into that space made money on it. Any Intel mobile division could very easily have been the next Blackberry or Nokia. Staying out of that fight may well have been the best decision for their shareholders.

> AMD is seriously threatening their x86 business.

If they lose the profitable server segment to AMD then that's a serious problem, I'd agree with that. That's far from settled though.

[mekster]

I'm in no position to say but how about just make a division to develop ARM based CPU and take some part of the pie while keeping the x86 cash flow coming?

[lmm]

The conglomerate discount exists for a reason. People who want to invest in ARM know where to find it; it makes sense for Intel to stick to their strategic advantages.