Intel Discloses Diversity Data, Challenges Tech Industry To Follow Suit

Intel has a new report out today. It's not about semiconductors. It's about diversity: how Intel is doing when it comes to women and underrepresented minorities on its staff. The results are mixed — some strong and some, frankly, failures. Still the sheer amount of information is exceptional, and a direct challenge to other Silicon Valley giants who've chosen to hide their data.

Be Engineers About Diversity

Let's start with some numbers.

Intel set a goal last year: Of all new hires, 40 percent have to be women or underrepresented minorities (black, Latino, Native American). The company had never hit that level in the past. So for Intel, it was an ambitious goal. And the company reports today: It managed to exceed it, hitting 43.1 percent.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich shares some of his motivation: "I have two daughters. They're both technically very bright. I want them to come into a workplace that's a better place than the way the workplace is today."

To do that, he says, Intel has to open up about how it's doing inside. "There's nothing here [that's] top secret or should not be shared with the rest of the world, in my mind."

Other tech giants don't agree. Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft — companies that value metrics so much — have not publicly stated any measurable goals when it comes to diversity hiring, or the retention of employees. They haven't disclosed the numbers of new hires or of exits from their companies, by gender and race.

Facebook, Google and Microsoft say their goals are not publicly available. An Apple spokesperson says the company has purposely decided to not set goals.

Intel is now an exception. Today's report gets in the weeds. The company aims to increase its external diverse hiring rate to 45 percent this year, and it's establishing a new target within this goal of a 14 percent hiring rate for underrepresented minorities.

There's a sense of urgency. By 2020, Krzanich says, Intel must reach "full representation."

By that he does not mean the company will look like America or its global consumer base. He means it'll reflect the available talent pool. Intel has a long way to go — currently at 75 percent male and a combined 86 percent white and Asian.