Intel: Just You Wait. Again
Analyst Jean-Louis Gassee, writing at Monday Note about Intel's habit of requesting investors that they wait for the company to catch up to the competition: Concurrently, the company's revenue for its new IFS foundry business decreased by 24% to an insignificant $118M, with a $140M operating loss gingerly explained as "increased spending to support strategic growth." Other Intel businesses such as Networking (NEX) products and Mobileye -- yet another Autonomous Driving Technology -- add nothing promising to the company's picture. This doesn't prevent [Intel CEO Pat] Gelsinger from once again intoning the Just You Wait refrain. This time, the promise is to "regain transistor performance and power performance leadership by 2025." Is it credible? We all agree that the US tech industry would be better served by Intel providing a better alternative to TSMC's and Samsung's advanced foundries. Indeed, We The Taxpayers are funding efforts to stimulate our country's semiconductor sector at the tune of $52B. I won't comment other than to reminisce about a difficult late 80s conversation with an industry CEO when, as an Apple exec, I naively opposed an attempt to combat the loss of semiconductor memory business to foreign competitors by subsidizing something tentatively called US Memories. But, in this really complicated 2023 world, what choices do we actually have? For years I've watched Intel's repeated mistakes, the misplaced self-regard, the ineffective leadership changes for this Silicon Valley icon, for the inventor of the first commercial microprocessor, only to be disappointed time and again as the company failed to shake the Wintel yoke -- while Microsoft successfully diversified. I fervently hope Pat Gelsinger succeeds. His achievement would resonate deeply, it would bring to mind another historic turnaround: Steve Jobs' 1997 return to the Apple he had "left" in 1985.
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