For many years Intel has been one of the biggest giants on the open-source scene, pouring billions to support projects that hold together the world of technology. But an announcement last week from a senior executive suggests a significant change in the company’s open-source approach.
That new vision is focused on making sure Intel’s efforts give a unique benefit to its own kit — even if it comes at the expense of other competition losing out on the bigger benefits. For developers, this evolution in Intel’s open-source strategy is a pretty big deal and for the industry as a whole too.
Industry insiders moved last week, via the Intel Tech Tour, to articulate the change, with Intel EVP and GM of the Data Center group, Kevork Kechichian, taking the lead. Though Panther Lake representative some amazing hardware, what also resonated from the event was the software quest reveal.
For its part, the company needs to strike a balance whereby it fully leverages [its open-source software] to Intel’s benefit, while not letting everyone else take it and run with it, Kechichian said. We are proud of the open-source work we have done. And, we’re going to continue to do that. But I want to make sure that it gives us an advantage over everyone else. Which statement is essentially the heart of the new open source strategy.
This hesistant open-source approach marks a stark contrast to Intel’s traditional position as a primary benefactor on the x86 landscape. The company has been at the forefront of compiler optimizations, memory management, and many high-level frameworks, on a mostly open basis for years. Over time, the decision to recalibrate this open-source strategy implies a more business-centric calculation now taking priority over a 20-year tradition.
We can already see the practical effects of this re-open-source-tized strategy. Phoronix notes some longtime Linux engineers laid off by Intel and projects like the “coretemp” CPU driver now being orphaned as indirect effects of these moves. This tightening open-source experiment is complemented with the termination of the Clear Linux OS project support and converting the Hyperscan software to a licensable model. It has raised the eyebrows with many speculating that Intel might consider the “de facto vendor lock-in” NVIDIA has achieved via CUDA a monumental achievement of a changed open-source strategy.
In the end, the open-source stance taken by Intel is obviously a sign of competitive heat in today’s computing world, particularly in AI and data centers. The company insists it will still do open-source development, but the scale and mindset is shifting. Intel will be scrutinized as it implements this new open source strategy by the market and the developer community that has long depended on Intel’s open contributions. This open-source strategy will be a major bellwether in terms of Intel’s long term success.
