Intel is reaping the benefits of its push into software, as Chief Technology Officer Greg Lavender revealed to Reuters that the company could possibly reach $1 billion in cumulative software revenue by the end of 2027.
In 2021, the year that its current CTO was brought in from VMware by CEO Pat Gelsinger to help steer the company’s software strategy, Intel made more than $100 million in software revenue. Since then, Intel has purchased three software companies.
“I have a goal of getting to $1 billion in software and developer cloud subscription revenue,” Lavender said.
“I think I’m on track to hit this goal by the end of 2027… maybe sooner,” he stated optimistically.
In 2023, the company generated a revenue of $54 billion. It now offers diverse software services and tools for hire, ranging from cloud computing to artificial intelligence.
Lavender noted that his strategy is to focus more on providing AI services, as well as security and performance. The company has also been investing in these three areas.
The CTO also underscored that there is a high demand for the upcoming Gaudi 3 chip. He believes that the chip could propel Intel’s standing in the AI chip market.
Fortune reported that there is still a Gaudi 2 chip and that both are aimed to undercut other AI chip makers.
Both Intel and AMD AI processors have not made even a small dent in Nvidia, the market leader in AI. In 2023, Nvidia was seen to control approximately 83% of the data center chip market.
According to Lavender, Intel supports open-source initiatives that seek to build software and tools capable of powering a host of AI chips. He is also expecting breakthroughs in the coming months.
Reuters noted that part of Nvidia’s success is due to CUDA, a software that keeps developers connected to Nvidia chips. Because of this, the antitrust regulator of France is about to charge the company with alleged anti-competitive behavior. The antitrust watchdog has already expressed its concerns over the AI sector’s dependence on CUDA.
Intel, along with Qualcomm and Samsung Electronics, is part of the UXL Foundation, an organization of tech companies developing an open-source project that aims to make computer code run on any machine, regardless of the hardware that powers it.
He also added that Triton, along with Meta and AMD, also support the project.