Intel

[weijian]

i watched the movie LOGAN over the weekend. Didn't really have a good impression with the self driving trucks inside the movie I am fine with driving as an activity, but i hate the jams but i reckon self driving cars aint going to resolve the jam issue (yet)?

There is too much cheap money looking for higher returns. The sharing economy has just started and it will take some time before the winners/survivors become evident. In the meanwhile, i guess startups like Mobike can continue to raise half a billion dollars every now and then. People are scared of missed opportunities than losing money. In anyways, VCs have always bet on multiple ideas but reap the gain off the homerun idea.

Grab ans Uber are trying to kill each other off. in a "network effect" business, u r either first or risk getting killed off. For commodities like taxis, i am not sure if there can be branding or niche areas to build the competitive moat. But 1 thing is for sure - The end loser will be traditional cab companies - they will survive for sure, but the moat will be destroyed together with its margins.

I will also bet that the taxi drivers in their 30s, will nt get to have their job displaced during their career (p.s. most probably take my opinion frivilously because i dont have any skin in the game yet)

[cyclone]

Intel's CEO reportedly sold shares after the company already knew about massive security flaws

Saheli Roy Choudhury
Published January 4, 2018

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich sold off a large chunk of his stake in the company last year — after the chipmaker was already aware of serious security flaws in its computer processors, according to multiple reports.

The chipmaker did not immediately respond to CNBC's emailed request for comments sent outside U.S. office hours.

Other outlets have reported an Intel spokeswoman said Krzanich's decision to sell the shares was unrelated to the security vulnerability disclosed this week.

According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing in late November, Krzanich acquired and sold 644,135 shares at a weighted average price of $44.05 by exercising his options. Those options let him purchase the shares at prices between $12.985 and $26.795, significantly lower than where Intel was trading at the time.

More details in https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/04/intel-ce...flaws.html

[cyclone]

Intel unveils first artificial intelligence chip Springhill

Reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Tova Cohen
AUGUST 20, 2019 / 10:04 PM

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Intel Corp on Tuesday unveiled its latest processor that will be its first using artificial intelligence (AI) and is designed for large computing centers.

The chip, developed at its development facility in Haifa, Israel, is known as Nervana NNP-I or Springhill and is based on a 10 nanometer Ice Lake processor that will allow it to cope with high workloads using minimal amounts of energy, Intel said.

Facebook, it said, already has started using the product.

Intel said its first AI product comes after it had invested in Israeli AI startups, including Habana Labs and NeuroBlade.

More details in https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tech-...SKCN1VA1LS

[weijian]

In an alternate history, Otellini might have been right.

Intel’s Disruption is Now Complete

Here’s what Otellini decided to do, when presented with the option to power the iPhone:

"We ended up not winning it or passing on it, depending on how you want to view it. And the world would have been a lot different if we'd done it," Otellini told me in a two-hour conversation during his last month at Intel. "The thing you have to remember is that this was before the iPhone was introduced and no one knew what the iPhone would do... At the end of the day, there was a chip that they were interested in that they wanted to pay a certain price for and not a nickel more and that price was below our forecasted cost. I couldn't see it. It wasn't one of these things you can make up on volume. And in hindsight, the forecasted cost was wrong and the volume was 100x what anyone thought.”

https://jamesallworth.medium.com/intels-...fa771f0f2c

[specuvestor]

To fend off Motorola chip that powered Apple, IBM RISC processors, newcomer Cyrix and perennial enemy AMD, Intel relied heavily on Moore’s law ie brawns rather than efficiency. But as the node size approached the size of an atom it is becoming more more difficult and moving towards material science, which TSMC seems to be doing better. Single core performance improvement has actually slowed significantly while multi-core (again adding more transistors) and threading has taken over.

The flip side to focusing brawns vs efficiency is that energy consumption takes a hit. So intel chips was not suited for mobile which is why laptops have power saving functions to step down the chip. And totally unsuitable for phones, which was what they were trying to do with Atom chip. Xscale was promising but they decided not to disrupt themselves just as the major car makers are initially resistant to EV. But progress of cars is pedestrian vs semiconductors which gave major car makers time to adjust; but not so for semicons

I’m not sure if intel culture can change easily looking at their progress on SoC vs say the M1 chip

[ongweehiang]

Hi All

Not sure how many people is thinking of the level of R&D spend of Intel versus the rest of the industry.

Intel still lead in chips for PCs and servers. They also have a sizeable FPGA business similar to Xilinx which is being acquired by AMD.

We do not have much in-depth view except that press narrative can change anytime on these companies since they are so un-love and there are multiple options embedded within these companies.

Optionality:
- coming up with AI Chip which could rival Nvidia,
- the outsourcing of their production to people like TSMC,
- possible trade issues to crop up with TSMC which could lead to US government to support Intel instead?
- or spinning off/IPO their division like Mobileeye or their FPGA
- Being more efficient in their R&D spend

Included IBM in the article too.

https://www.weightedresearch.com/it-may-...the-press/

For your comments and thoughts.

Follow us on telegram for ideas we are thinking of and may not be working on @ https://t.me/weightedresearch
or
the website at https://www.weightedresearch.com/ for ideas we had finally put our fingers down to the keyboard to.

[Wildreamz]

I have doubts that TSMC will ever have issue with the US government.

This is due to political reasons: TSMC will always be a sovereign entity from PRC as long as Taiwan is a sovereign entity. And the PRC will always need to rely on TSMC, as similar distrust will always exist by the PRC towards US controlled companies (like Intel).

TSMC set to benefit from both sides, long-term, by being on neutral soil; in addition to being the biggest industry leader in fab.

(ex-investor of TSMC)

Intel's R&D expense has been flat since 2018 and R&D expense, as a fraction of total revenue, has been on the decline since 2016.

At the mean time, they are losing market share to both ARM and AMD.

Not saying they can't recover from current trajectory, but I don't see it happening in the near-term. 

[ongweehiang]

Intel is definitely worth more broken up as a few pieces than staying as one. But that is going to be tough to execute.

Add in a catalyst like Dan Loeb, maybe things will move a tad faster.

Hedge fund Third Point urges Intel to explore deal options

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-intel...SKBN2931PS

Third Point Chief Executive Daniel Loeb wrote to Intel Chairman Omar Ishrak calling for immediate action to boost the company’s position as a major provider of processor chips for PCs and data centers. The New York-based fund has amassed a nearly $1 billion stake in Intel, according to people familiar with the matter.

Intel shares rose 6.1% to $49.95, the most in more than eight months on the news, giving the company a market value of more than $200 billion. The stock had declined about 21% this year, compared with a 43% rise in the Nasdaq Composite Index.

[weijian]

There are a multitude of reasons for Intel's decline. While the hopeless romantic pains at the decline of this Tech Giant, who is the brainchild of Bob Noyce/Gordon Moore - but I sense hubris as the message suggests that (1) Taiwan/Asia is unstable, (2) chips shouldn't be made in Asia etc.

Chip shortage highlights U.S. dependence on fragile supply chain

Lesley Stahl: Your business is extremely lucrative. In terms of revenue, you made $78 billion last year. Why should the government come in to a company, a business that's doing so well overall?

Pat Gelsinger: This is a big, critical industry and we want more of it on American soil: the jobs that we want in America, the control of our long term technology future, and as we've also said, the disruptions in the supply chain.

Lesley Stahl: You have spent much more in stock buybacks than you have in research and development. A lot more.

Pat Gelsinger: We will not be anywhere near as focused on buybacks going forward as we have in the past. And that's been reviewed as part of my coming into the company, agreed upon with the board of directors.

Lesley Stahl: Why shouldn't private industry fund this instead of the government? The industries that rely on these chips - Apple, Microsoft, the companies that are rolling in money?

Pat Gelsinger: Well, they're pretty happy to buy from some of the Asian suppliers.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/semiconduct...021-05-02/

[ongweehiang]

There are a multitude of reasons for Intel's decline. While the hopeless romantic pains at the decline of this Tech Giant, who is the brainchild of Bob Noyce/Gordon Moore - but I sense hubris as the message suggests that (1) Taiwan/Asia is unstable, (2) chips shouldn't be made in Asia etc.

Chip shortage highlights U.S. dependence on fragile supply chain

Lesley Stahl: Your business is extremely lucrative. In terms of revenue, you made $78 billion last year. Why should the government come in to a company, a business that's doing so well overall?

Pat Gelsinger: This is a big, critical industry and we want more of it on American soil: the jobs that we want in America, the control of our long term technology future, and as we've also said, the disruptions in the supply chain.

Lesley Stahl: You have spent much more in stock buybacks than you have in research and development. A lot more.

Pat Gelsinger: We will not be anywhere near as focused on buybacks going forward as we have in the past. And that's been reviewed as part of my coming into the company, agreed upon with the board of directors.

Lesley Stahl: Why shouldn't private industry fund this instead of the government? The industries that rely on these chips - Apple, Microsoft, the companies that are rolling in money?

Pat Gelsinger: Well, they're pretty happy to buy from some of the Asian suppliers.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/semiconduct...021-05-02/

That the narrative Pat will press in the US. The more this is frame as a national security issue, the better it is for Intel. 

If Pat/Intel is willing to go all in, I am sure the US will throw everything behind them. There is really no other option for the US government. 

Intel is too important to fail...

Follow us @ www.weightedresearch.com