"Of the groups Gelsinger got rid of was Optane (started in 2017, never made a profit), sold McAfee (bought in 2010, never made a profit), and shut down the drone group (started in 2015, never made a profit). Last year, Intel sold off its NAND business to Hynix, giving up its only Chinese fab, and sold off its money-losing sports group; and this year, the company shut down its Russian operations. Since Gelsinger’s return, Intel has dumped six businesses, saving $1.5 billion in operating costs and loses."
None of these groups are remotely as close to Intel's core (pun intended) business, as this one. It is certainly true that this division needs to produce better results, but that's true of the company as well. Chopping this one, unless there is some plan for a replacement strategy in the GPU space, would be a bad sign, as it would suggest a company circling the drain/milking the existing winners, unable to make any new winners.
The drones were great, and expensive. I don't get how they couldn't make a profit. They only had one model too, it took DJI another 4 years before it had an acceptable rival in the industrial class. It was a simple drone too, it couldn't have been that heavy of a burden on their financials, why not just keep it around for a couple years longer, the drone industry is clearly still maturing.
None of these groups are remotely as close to Intel's core (pun intended) business, as this one. It is certainly true that this division needs to produce better results, but that's true of the company as well. Chopping this one, unless there is some plan for a replacement strategy in the GPU space, would be a bad sign, as it would suggest a company circling the drain/milking the existing winners, unable to make any new winners.