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Sources Say Intel Is an Acquisition Target

21 points by monkeydust 2y ago

mobilio 2y ago
Let me guess Broadcom or Nvidia?
- Dalewyn 2y ago
  The poorly written article actually doesn't say anything tangible. I'm flagging this as clickbait of the worst order.
- baq 2y ago
  Broadcom would be some horror scenario. Not your garden variety scary movie
  - trollbridge 2y ago
    A portfolio of has-been chips, a patent portfolio nearing obsolescence, and a bunch of software nobody cares about?
    - baq 2y ago
      and 10x price increase
      - trollbridge 2y ago
        “In order to keep using your 80386SX, you’ll need to pay $500/year plus 10% of your power bill to keep it on. Your Intel account has been migrated to a Broadcom account, except we lost your password, so you’ll have to reset it via email. Please sign the new EULA which says we can enter your property and look for evidence in a manner that would make an FBI lawyer in a FISA court blush.”
- monkeydust 2y ago
  Markets moved heavily to it (~7.5% pre-market) so just perhaps there is something to it. Link down for me now, not a shocker.
- sofixa 2y ago
  Nvidia probably wouldn't fly from an anticompetitive standpoint.
- dogma1138 2y ago
  NVIDIA isn’t likely to want to take on the money pit that is the foundry business.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
jacknews 2y ago
The last thing Intel needs is more financial/MBA alchemy.
josefritzishere 2y ago
"Sources say." That's my favorite source.
- sofixa 2y ago
  Well it's not like they can name their sources, it'd be career ending for the people leaking, and also negatively impact the publication (nobody would trust them anymore)
jmclnx 2y ago
The only reason some company would want to buy Intel would be the $ the US Federal Gov is sending Intel's way. But that is now up in the air due to Trump and Musk. So I doubt a purchase will happen until the US Fed becomes stable (if it ever does) and people know what laws will be safe for the long term.
etempleton 2y ago
There are only a handful of American companies that could easily afford Intel and have any actual expertise to own Intel. The author was confident the company could pull of the purchase so that narrows the list quite a bit: 1. Apple - They have the cash, they like to vertical integrate. 2. Microsoft - Also have the cash, but probably not a great idea. It doesn't really sync with their software first business approach. 3. Nvidia - They have the cash, but antitrust issues arise. With that said, the US would probably allow it. Nvidia often makes their GPUs on non-cutting edge processes anyway, so Intel foundries might save them some money and they were never able to buy ARM like they wanted to. 4. AMD - This is less straightforward, it would probably have to be more of a merger than a straight acquisition, which makes me think this is not the company that is being referred to. There are other companies, but I don't think the financials are nearly as straightforward for someone like Broadcom or Qualcomm. They might have the market valuation, but Intel is still the bigger company in terms of revenue. I think it has to be either Apple or Nvidia that is being referenced. I don't think any other company can look at Intel and say 'should we just buy them?' Maybe Microsoft, but I don't think they would know what to do with Intel and it would be another Nokia situation where they do more harm than good.
everfrustrated 2y ago
Assuming an acquiring company would have a larger market cap than Intel ($91B) lets take a look at current market caps of US tech companies ($B): Apple $3463 - no chance. They've poured billions into moving off Intel and are doing well. No strategic benefit. Nvidia $3386 - Likely. Plenty of cash on hand. Would make a pretty epic company if combined and Nvidia culture spreads throughout Intel. Diversify away from TSMC as a single (albeit awesome) supplier which is a big risk. Microsoft $3213 - Plausible. Google $2421 - Plausible. But no obvious synergy. Amazon $2374 - No chance. Invested billion into their own ARM. Facebook $1554 - Likely. Software company trying desperately to get into hardware. Don't have ARM investments. Don't have AI chip investments. Tesla $1404 - Unlikely. Don't use x86 in cars anymore as did a urgent pivot to ARM. Elon's unpredictable tho and has the cash. Broadcom $1114 - Likely Oracle $453 - Plausible Salesforce $313 - Plausible as they're an acquisition company Cisco $241 - Plausible as they're an acquisition company IBM $207 - Plausible as they're an acquisition company AMD $197 - No chance on anti-compete law Adobe $187 - Low chance. Qualcomm $182 - Plausible TI $174 - Plausible Micron $117 - Plausible. Intel started out doing ram chips. Depressing how many companies are on the list - shows how far Intel has fallen.
- JohnBooty 2y ago
  Among the biggest players, Apple actually kind of makes sense? They've poured billions into moving off Intel and are doing well They have no interest in x86. But Intel has fabs and (I'm guessing) a huge truckload of valuable patents. Apple has been kicking ass with their CPUs but a large percentage of this is due to throwing lots of money at TSMC to tie up their cutting edge fabs. But there is uncertainty in TSMC's future thanks to the China/Taiwan/USA situation, and Apple also has no real control over TSMC aside from giving them bucketloads of cash. That's not a situation Apple loves to be in, and they have the cash to do something about it....
- ThrowawayR2 2y ago
  > "Apple $3463 - no chance." Owning their own fabs would save them whatever hefty premium they are paying TSMC, the exact same way that moving off of x86 saved them whatever premium they were paying to Intel. > "Microsoft $3213 - Plausible." They're not a hardware company at heart and would crater Intel just as surely as they cratered Nokia. Same goes for Google, Amazon, and Facebook.
osnium123 2y ago
Reports are that Elon Musk is looking to buy Intel.
pwarner 2y ago
Left field possibility: Warren Buffett He's a holder of TSMC so he gets it. He could talk to Tom Cook to test the idea. Disclosure: I own some INTC, because despite their massive struggles they seem under valued.

21 points by monkeydust 2y ago

mobilio 2y ago

Let me guess Broadcom or Nvidia?

Dalewyn 2y ago
The poorly written article actually doesn't say anything tangible. I'm flagging this as clickbait of the worst order.
baq 2y ago
Broadcom would be some horror scenario. Not your garden variety scary movie
- trollbridge 2y ago
  A portfolio of has-been chips, a patent portfolio nearing obsolescence, and a bunch of software nobody cares about?
  - baq 2y ago
    and 10x price increase
    - trollbridge 2y ago
      “In order to keep using your 80386SX, you’ll need to pay $500/year plus 10% of your power bill to keep it on. Your Intel account has been migrated to a Broadcom account, except we lost your password, so you’ll have to reset it via email. Please sign the new EULA which says we can enter your property and look for evidence in a manner that would make an FBI lawyer in a FISA court blush.”
monkeydust 2y ago
Markets moved heavily to it (~7.5% pre-market) so just perhaps there is something to it. Link down for me now, not a shocker.
sofixa 2y ago
Nvidia probably wouldn't fly from an anticompetitive standpoint.
dogma1138 2y ago
NVIDIA isn’t likely to want to take on the money pit that is the foundry business.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

jacknews 2y ago

The last thing Intel needs is more financial/MBA alchemy.

josefritzishere 2y ago

"Sources say." That's my favorite source.

sofixa 2y ago
Well it's not like they can name their sources, it'd be career ending for the people leaking, and also negatively impact the publication (nobody would trust them anymore)

jmclnx 2y ago

The only reason some company would want to buy Intel would be the $ the US Federal Gov is sending Intel's way. But that is now up in the air due to Trump and Musk. So I doubt a purchase will happen until the US Fed becomes stable (if it ever does) and people know what laws will be safe for the long term.

etempleton 2y ago

There are only a handful of American companies that could easily afford Intel and have any actual expertise to own Intel. The author was confident the company could pull of the purchase so that narrows the list quite a bit: 1. Apple - They have the cash, they like to vertical integrate. 2. Microsoft - Also have the cash, but probably not a great idea. It doesn't really sync with their software first business approach. 3. Nvidia - They have the cash, but antitrust issues arise. With that said, the US would probably allow it. Nvidia often makes their GPUs on non-cutting edge processes anyway, so Intel foundries might save them some money and they were never able to buy ARM like they wanted to. 4. AMD - This is less straightforward, it would probably have to be more of a merger than a straight acquisition, which makes me think this is not the company that is being referred to. There are other companies, but I don't think the financials are nearly as straightforward for someone like Broadcom or Qualcomm. They might have the market valuation, but Intel is still the bigger company in terms of revenue. I think it has to be either Apple or Nvidia that is being referenced. I don't think any other company can look at Intel and say 'should we just buy them?' Maybe Microsoft, but I don't think they would know what to do with Intel and it would be another Nokia situation where they do more harm than good.

everfrustrated 2y ago

Assuming an acquiring company would have a larger market cap than Intel ($91B) lets take a look at current market caps of US tech companies ($B): Apple $3463 - no chance. They've poured billions into moving off Intel and are doing well. No strategic benefit. Nvidia $3386 - Likely. Plenty of cash on hand. Would make a pretty epic company if combined and Nvidia culture spreads throughout Intel. Diversify away from TSMC as a single (albeit awesome) supplier which is a big risk. Microsoft $3213 - Plausible. Google $2421 - Plausible. But no obvious synergy. Amazon $2374 - No chance. Invested billion into their own ARM. Facebook $1554 - Likely. Software company trying desperately to get into hardware. Don't have ARM investments. Don't have AI chip investments. Tesla $1404 - Unlikely. Don't use x86 in cars anymore as did a urgent pivot to ARM. Elon's unpredictable tho and has the cash. Broadcom $1114 - Likely Oracle $453 - Plausible Salesforce $313 - Plausible as they're an acquisition company Cisco $241 - Plausible as they're an acquisition company IBM $207 - Plausible as they're an acquisition company AMD $197 - No chance on anti-compete law Adobe $187 - Low chance. Qualcomm $182 - Plausible TI $174 - Plausible Micron $117 - Plausible. Intel started out doing ram chips. Depressing how many companies are on the list - shows how far Intel has fallen.

JohnBooty 2y ago
Among the biggest players, Apple actually kind of makes sense? They've poured billions into moving off Intel and are doing well They have no interest in x86. But Intel has fabs and (I'm guessing) a huge truckload of valuable patents. Apple has been kicking ass with their CPUs but a large percentage of this is due to throwing lots of money at TSMC to tie up their cutting edge fabs. But there is uncertainty in TSMC's future thanks to the China/Taiwan/USA situation, and Apple also has no real control over TSMC aside from giving them bucketloads of cash. That's not a situation Apple loves to be in, and they have the cash to do something about it....
ThrowawayR2 2y ago
> "Apple $3463 - no chance." Owning their own fabs would save them whatever hefty premium they are paying TSMC, the exact same way that moving off of x86 saved them whatever premium they were paying to Intel. > "Microsoft $3213 - Plausible." They're not a hardware company at heart and would crater Intel just as surely as they cratered Nokia. Same goes for Google, Amazon, and Facebook.

osnium123 2y ago

Reports are that Elon Musk is looking to buy Intel.

pwarner 2y ago

Left field possibility: Warren Buffett He's a holder of TSMC so he gets it. He could talk to Tom Cook to test the idea. Disclosure: I own some INTC, because despite their massive struggles they seem under valued.