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While the past few years have not been kind to Intel, the recent weeks have been notable for their particular brutality as the erstwhile giant of the silicon sphere suffered one setback after the other. The end result: Intel is now worth as much as a non-profit.
It's wild that Intel's valuation is similar to that of OpenAI.
— The AI Investor (@The_AI_Investor) August 8, 2024
To wit, OpenAI concluded its latest funding round back in February 2024, which valued the non-profit at $80 billion. Today, Intel shares closed with a market cap of $81.19 billion, roughly equal to the valuation of the AI-focused startup.
As we noted last week, Intel took a ferocious beating in the stock market when it reported broadly negative results relative to the consensus expectations for the second quarter of 2024. The chip manufacturer not only failed to meet the analysts' consensus expectations for its top-line and bottom-line metrics but also failed to deliver on the key DCAI segment, indicating that it has yet to truly tap into the broad-based AI-focused tailwind.
Critically, Intel missed its own guidance for the just-concluded quarter's gross margin by a wide shot and guided to further sequential weakness.
To conserve cash, the chip maker has now slashed its dividend and formalized another mass layoff plan, to the tune of 15,000 employees, or 13.6 percent of its current workforce of around 110,000, adding to the 5 percent layoff that the company implemented just last year.
As if things were not bad enough, Intel's 13th and 14th generation CPUs continue to suffer from oxidation issues spurred by excessive voltage. The company plans to issue an update to prevent further degradation in as yet unaffected CPUs. It has also extended its standard warranty for 13th and 14th generation unboxed processors from 3 years to 5 years.
TSMC alone cannot handle the production volume. $NVDA
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According to Taiwanese media, Nvidia and other major U.S. tech companies are considering outsourcing packaging solutions to Intel.Currently, TSMC virtually monopolizes the production of Nvidia products, which dominate… https://t.co/WqsbkQsVSZ
— The AI Investor (@The_AI_Investor) August 8, 2024
Amid all of these adverse developments, NVIDIA appears to have come to the rescue of Intel. We noted recently that NVIDIA might tap Intel's IFS to fulfill H100's packaging needs that TSMC can't fulfill. Now, Taiwanese media is doubling down on reports that major US tech companies might outsource CoWoS-S solutions to Intel.
About the author: Writing is my one incontrovertible passion. Over the past six years, he has authored over 2,200 distinct articles on financial and tech-related topics, spanning nearly 1 million words. And he has been a member of Wcctech mobile team since 2025. As an alumnus of the University of Toronto, Rotman Commerce Program, I bring nuance, in-depth knowledge, and a unique perspective to every topic that I cover. When I'm not writing, I'm traveling the world, exploring hidden confectionaries and restaurants as an aspiring food connoisseur.
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