Sources Say Intel Is an Acquisition Target
semiaccurate.com
semiaccurate.com
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.
They've poured billions into moving off Intel and are doing well
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....
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.
Intel is still profitable so they're covering their own R&D cost and they're still in second place in process technology. TSMC is undoubtedly charging a hefty margin for their cutting edge fab process so the economics might work out for Apple doing its own fabbing.
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.
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.
I'm flagging this as clickbait of the worst order.
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.