Important: companies and valuations included in the text are for informational purposes only and do not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell financial products. It is worth prioritizing investment decisions with your own analysis of risk and financial situation.
The first half of last year was one of the hardest periods in Intel's history. The tech giant entered the year fresh from the abrupt firing of its previous CEO, Pat Gelsinger, with poor financial results, shrinking shares in key markets and no working AI strategy.
There were many theories and reports circulating in the media that it was only a matter of time before the company was divided into parts and bought by the competition. The company's share price regularly dropped below $20 during this time.
The last time it did this was in August, after the company's historic financial report, during which the CEO and CFO clearly said that if there are no serious customers interested in the services of Intel factories soon, they will stop taking part in the technological duel with TSMC and Samsung.
Many people perceived it as waving the white flag. As the end of the legend of Intel, which gave the world integrated circuits and was an innovator in the semiconductor world for decades.
Initially, few people believed that the new head of the company, Lip-Bu Tan, would change its fate.
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Intel
However, two very important things happened at the end of August and the second half of September. On August 22, it was announced that the US administration would acquire 10 percent. Intel shares.
The financial significance of this agreement was relatively small, because although it meant a cash injection of USD 8.9 billion, it was actually only a confirmation that Intel would receive the money promised to it by the previous US administration, which was left in limbo after the elections.
What was more important was that this deal marked good relations between Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan and Donald Trumpwho had previously publicly criticized the former. Moreover, this contract was constructed in such a way that: it de facto blocked the sale of factories.
From a financial point of view, the agreement concluded between Intel and Nvidia, announced by the heads of these companies on September 18, was much more important. We then found out that Nvidia will invest $5 billion in Intel. and that the two companies will cooperate on the next few generations of server and notebook processors.
Change in Intel's share price
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Onet
These two unexpected deals definitely put the wind in the sails of the weakened giant and although everyone knew that his situation is still difficult, at least it is relatively stable.
Intel shows its claws, investors applaud
Today at 23:00 Intel will present its latest financial report and Investor attitudes are now completely different than 12 months ago. It's so positive that in the last 24 hours, the company's shares exceeded the $50 barrier. They are currently worth over $54, so if someone bought them in August during the low point, when they were around $19.50, then gained nearly 180 percent.
The new wave of optimism visible before the Intel conference is related to very positive first industry news related to the company's latest productsCore Ultra 300 series processors codenamed Panther Lake. Both the media and Intel's notebook partners have responded very well to these looking chips one of the company's best products for several years. Combined with the increased demand for notebooks caused by the end of support for Windows 10 and businesses and consumers switching to machines with Windows 11, this bodes well for the company's finances. In addition, this year Intel's biggest competitor, AMD, has an offer mainly based on refreshed previous-generation chips, which should not be a major threat to the new Core Ultra series. This also gives Intel a chance to compete for the chip market for increasingly popular gaming handhelds, which has so far been dominated by AMD.
New Intel processors promise to be the best company product in recent years.
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Intel
First of all, the good condition of Panther Lake processors is of great importance to the chipmaking half of Intel.
If they turn out to be efficient, energy-saving and widely available, it means that the semiconductor production process called 18A, which is crucial for the company's future, and Intel's ability to build high-performance processors from separate pieces of silicon, which is very important in times of the AI boom, are at a level that gives you the opportunity to find large external clients.
This gives hope that Intel still has a chance to fight with TSMC and Samsung – especially in the context of the fact that the Taiwanese have reserved the processing capacity of their factories for several months in advance and their services are becoming more and more expensive, which is why many technology companies are forced to look for alternatives.
What's next? It all depends on whether the rumors turn into facts
The question now is: What next? Is this the end of growth? Much depends on whether the opportunity mentioned in the previous paragraph will be converted into… specific, officially confirmed contracts, not just rumors.
Behind the scenes, there is most talk about one rumor that, if it became reality, would shake up the market: a potential deal with Apple. Interestingly, recently about the fact that Apple Already is an Intel customer, Donald Trump said publicly. However, it is not known whether he knows about something that has not been officially announced, or whether it was some form of putting pressure on the market or a simple slip of the tongue.
The whole situation is made even more interesting by the fact that during an interview conducted in Davos with Jensen Huang, the head of Nvidia said that his company has become TSMC's largest and most important customer.
In other words, Nvidia has taken Apple's position. Apple's close cooperation with the Taiwanese was one of the most important factors why TSMC now has such a strong market position. So Apple may want to put pressure on its long-time partner and try to repeat a similar story by signing a contract with Intel.
This would be nothing new in the history of the company managed by Tim Cook. Investing in alternative component suppliers and thus creating competition has been an element of the supply chain management strategy for many years, visible, for example, in the case of manufacturers of OLED matrixes for iPhones and iPads.
For now, analysts do not expect Intel to announce any financial revolutions today, but rather stabilization. However, if we finally receive specific information about large orders for Intel factory services and confirmation that Intel is not withdrawing from the race for technological supremacy in semiconductor production, breaking the threshold of $50. for action may be just the beginning.
Important: companies and valuations included in the text are for informational purposes only and do not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell financial products. It is worth prioritizing investment decisions with your own analysis of risk and financial situation.
