Intel Corp. plans to wind down its automotive business and lay off most of the unit’s employees.

The Oregonian reported the development Tuesday, citing an internal company memo. Intel confirmed the move in a statement issued today to TechCrunch.

“As we have said previously, we are refocusing on our core client and data center portfolio to strengthen our product offerings and meet the needs of our customers,” Intel stated. “As part of this work, we have decided to wind down the automotive business within our client computing group.”

Intel Automotive, as the unit is called, develops processors for smart vehicles. It’s one of two Intel businesses that compete in this market. The other is Mobileye Global Inc., which the chipmaker acquired in 2017 for $15.3 billion and later floated on the Nasdaq. It continues to be majority-owned by Intel.

Intel Automotive debuted its newest chip, the ACU U310, in January. It can be used to manage a smart car’s powertrain, the part of the vehicle that contains the engine and certain supporting components. The ACU U310 combines a multicore central processing unit with a voltage control module designed to optimize power usage.

One of the chip’s flagship features is a technology called HISIL. It prevents the applications that run on the processor from interfering with one another, which reduces the risk of technical issues. Intel says ACU U310 can run cybersecurity tools, vehicle safety software and other workloads side-by-side.

The company also offers a line of graphics cards optimized for use in cars. The chip series can power infotainment displays with up to 4K resolution, as well as run artificial intelligence models and video games. Intel is promising performance of 229 trillion computations per second.

In January, the company announced plans to start producing a second-generation vehicle graphics card by year’s end. It’s unclear whether the project will proceed now that Intel Automotive is being shuttered. The chipmaker has stated that it plans to fulfill existing commitments to customers.

Intel Automotive’s closure is part of a broader restructuring initiative that also affects other business units.

Last week, the company announced plans to reduce the headcount of its Intel Foundry manufacturing division by up to 20%. Around the same time, Intel moved to cut more than 100 jobs at its headquarters. The chipmaker’s marketing group is also gearing up for a round of layoffs.

The job cuts are intended to boost Intel’s finances amid increasing competition from rivals such as Nvidia Corp. in its core markets. The company will reduce annual operating expenses by $500 million this year and expects to save an additional $1 billion in 2026. 

Photo: Thomas Cloer/Flickr