There's a whole backstory to this.

When he joined only a few months ago, he set the vision of making Intel a worthy participant in the AI space.

Then just a few months later, he announced "we cannot compete".

What happened in the middle? Recent articles came out about the conflict between him and Frank Yeary, the head of the Intel board. He wanted to acquire a hot AI startup, and Frank opposed it. Two factions were formed in the Board, and they lost a lot of time battling it out. While this was going on, a FAANG came in and bought the startup.

I think his announcement that Intel cannot compete was his way of saying "I cannot do it with the current Intel board."

Feels like a fair statement.

My read is basically that Intel's board is frustrated they can't part the company out, take their cash, and go home.

I'd also be incredibly frustrated working with a board that seems deadset on actively sabotaging the company for short term gains.

What startup was it?

Intel has bought and destroyed a large number of startup already. Not sure that is the solution.

What happened is they fired tens of thousands of their workforce. They knee-capped themselves. Having people with experience and institutional knowledge is required. You can't just toss that out the windows and expect things to work.