Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
What is next? Intel has exited semi business and sold out to one of your favorite company.
Interesting way to look at Altera's announcement.
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/10/30/apple-may-not-have-to-ditch-intel-to-get-arm-archi.aspx?source=ihpsitcag0000002&lidx=4#885254
----------------
Apple May Not Have to Ditch Intel to Get ARM Architecture for Macs
By Daniel Sparks | More Articles | Save For Later
October 30, 2013 | Comments (1)
Apple launches its brand-new iPad Air on Friday, but plenty of consumers are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the iPad Mini with Retina display. The smaller tablet might be hard to come by this holiday shopping season, but starting Friday The Motley Fool will be hosting a contest to win a free iPad Mini with Retina display! Make sure to check back on Friday to find out how you can win!
In a quest for thinner form factors and power conservation, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) has leaned heavily on ARM Holdings (NASDAQ: ARMH ) for its power-conserving architecture. So far, however, this ARM architecture has only made it to Apple's mobile devices, while rival Intel (NASDAQ: INTC ) continues to power Apple's Macs. However, ARM may still eventually wiggle its way into Apple's Mac lineup.
A match made in competition
I've previously suggested that Apple's new A7 processor with 64-bit desktop-class architecture from ARM Holdings could be a sign that Apple may attempt to build up its silicon prowess to eventually end its reliance on Intel in Macs. But a fresh story brings new light to the story: What if ARM and Intel worked together?
Semiconductor company and Intel partner Altera announced at the developers' conference yesterday that Intel will begin manufacturing 64-bit ARM chips in 2014, according to Forbes.
The move actually makes a lot of sense. Intel could finally pick up where it's slacking: mobile. For instance, Intel could finally become another foundry alternative for Apple's mobile devices as Apple tries to diversify away from its reliance on frenemy Samsung for processor fabrication. What about ARM Holdings? ARM would get its foot in the door with the world's largest semiconductor chipmaker.
As Insight 64 analyst Nathan Brookwood said to Forbes:
It's huge. Imagine ARM's most powerful and technologically advanced 64-bits processor built on Intel's leading-edge fabs. A duo that will be hard to beat.
The possible partnership sounds like a solution to Apple concerns that Bloomberg highlighted in late 2012 for a common chip design between desktop and mobile.
As handheld devices increasingly function like PCs, the engineers working on this project within Apple envision machines that use a common chip design. If Apple CEO Tim Cook wants to offer the consumer of 2017 and beyond a seamless experience on laptops, phones, tablets, and televisions, it will be easier to build if all the devices have a consistent underlying chip architecture.
If Intel's future relationship with Apple was in any way threatened, this move to build chips with ARM architecture could be an excellent way to address this issue.
Who's the big winner?
There's one sure winner: the consumer. ARM's power-conserving architecture, combined with Intel's fabrication, will likely lead to incredible progress on the mobile front. Even more, it may finally bring common architecture to mobile and desktop, helping companies like Apple achieve more seamless integration between the two platforms than ever before. As far as the businesses involved, Brookwood believes that the move "would actually make business sense for everyone."
If anything, however, this is a solid confirmation that Apple's move to 64-bit desktop-class architecture in its mobile devices was an early, smart move in the right direction. And if Apple's move to 64-bit architecture in mobile devices was intended to lay the foundation for a common chip design between the two platforms, it looks like Apple's insight may turn out to be correct.
Besides XMM7160, Intel announced a few more modules PCIe M.2 LTE Modules and Intel SMARTi m4G Solution. some of these solutions are extremely small relative to others, if others do offer.
-------------------------------------
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
* Intel XMM 7160 LTE modem is now shipping in the 4G version of the Samsung
GALAXY Tab 3 (10.1) - available in Asia and Europe.
* Intel XMM 7160 provides multimode (2G/3G/4G LTE) voice and data with
simultaneous support for 15 LTE bands for global LTE roaming.
* Intel announces PCIe M.2 LTE wireless data modules expected to ship in 2014
tablet and Ultrabook designs from leading manufacturers.
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
Intel Corporation today announced the commercial availability of its multimode,
multiband 4G LTE solution. The Intel XMM 7160 platform is featured in the LTE
version of the Samsung GALAXY Tab 3 (10.1)*, now available in Asia and Europe.
Intel has also expanded its portfolio of 4G LTE connectivity solutions,
introducing PCIe (PCI Express) M.2 modules for 4G connected tablets, Ultrabooks
and 2 in 1 devices as well as an integrated radio frequency (RF) transceiver
module, the Intel SMARTi m4G. These new products make it simple, efficient and
cost effective for device manufacturers to add high performance wireless
connectivity to their product designs.
"As LTE networks expand at a rapid pace, 4G connectivity will be an expected
ingredient in devices from phones to tablets as well as laptops," said Hermann
Eul, vice president and general manager of Intel`s Mobile and Communications
Group. "Intel is providing customers an array of options for fast, reliable LTE
connectivity while delivering a competitive choice and design flexibility for
the mobile ecosystem."
The commercial availability of the Intel XMM 7160 solution follows successful
interoperability testing with major infrastructure vendors and tier-one
operators across Asia, Europe and North America. The Intel XMM 7160 is one of
the world`s smallest and lowest-power multimode, multiband LTE solutions for
phones and tablets. The solution provides seamless connectivity across 2G, 3G
and 4G LTE networks, supports 15 LTE bands simultaneously and is voice-over LTE
(VoLTE) capable. It features a highly configurable RF architecture, running
real-time algorithms for envelope tracking and antenna tuning that enables
cost-efficient multiband configurations, extended battery life and global LTE
roaming in a single SKU.
Intel offers a broad portfolio of mobile platform solutions including SoCs,
cost-optimized integrated circuits, reference designs and feature-rich software
stacks supporting 2G, 3G and 4G LTE. Building on the Intel XMM 7160 platform,
Intel today announced two multimode LTE solutions that pave the way for 4G
connected devices in a variety of form factors.
New Intel PCIe M.2 LTE Modules and Intel SMARTi m4G Solution
Intel introduced Intel PCIe M.2 LTE modules, which are small, cost-effective,
embedded modules in a standardized form factor for adding multimode (2G/3G/4G
LTE) data connectivity across a variety of device types. The Intel M.2 module
supports peak downlink speeds of 100Mbps over LTE. The modules support up to 15
LTE frequency bands for global roaming. In addition, those modules also feature
support for Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) based on the Intel CG1960
GNSS solution.
For manufacturers, the M.2 module makes it simple to add 4G connectivity to
their designs while reducing integration and certification expenses, and
improving time-to-market. The M.2 module is currently undergoing
interoperability testing with tier-one global service providers. Intel M.2-based
modules will soon be available from Huawei*, Sierra Wireless* and Telit*. These
modules are expected to ship globally in 2014 tablet and Ultrabook designs from
leading manufacturers.
In addition to the new Intel PCIe M.2 LTE module, Intel also offers the new
Intel SMARTi m4G - a highly integrated radio transceiver module. The Intel
SMARTi m4G was developed in cooperation with Murata* and integrates the Intel
SMARTi 4G transceiver with most front-end components in one LTCC (low
temperature co-fired ceramic) package. When paired with the Intel X-GOLD 716
baseband, manufacturers can meet the certification requirements of service
providers with minimal design cycles in an easy-to-place, low-profile solution.
With the Intel SMARTi m4G, the overall component count can be reduced by more
than 40 components and the required PCB area is reduced up to 20 percent .
Intel plans to deliver next-generation LTE solutions, including the Intel XMM
7260 in 2014. The Intel XMM 7260 adds LTE Advanced features, such as carrier
aggregation, faster speeds and support for both TD-LTE and TD-SCDMA. More
information about Intel`s mobile communications solutions is available here.
About Intel
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) is a world leader in computing innovation. The company
designs and builds the essential technologies that serve as the foundation for
the world`s computing devices. Additional information about Intel is available
at newsroom.intel.com and blogs.intel.com.
Intel, SMARTi and the Intel logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the
United States and other countries.
*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
When Altera announced its plan, Quark was not available.
I think it will showcase Intel manufacturing lead when this ARM is compared with similar ARM devices.
I thought Intel was already providing reference design to most of the OEMs. May be it is not enough. It should ask one of the top OEM to build one of its design and finance the inventory and let the OEM sell under its own name. That is just to penetrate the market. There may not be enough money in that model.
I understand that. Intel has very limited choices. Either do it yourself and sell through these established channel or wait for OEMs to bring products to market.
There is another alternative. It can finance the inventory of some of these OEMs who design it favors.
You seemed surprised that T100 volume was 400K. That is why Intel should make its own brand if it wants to avoid these issue or we all have to live with it.
I am not advocating Intel getting into that business but it may be forced to do so by Apple/MSFT etc.
The only way this problem can be solved is Intel starts making its own products. That may be coming if OEMs keep on screwing.
On one side you state that T100 is sold out. Whose problem is that-Intel or the OEM who made the T100?
He was boasting too much. He called himself expert/guru and even one more name which skips me. When any one does that, it is quite clear what it means.
I do know that. There is plenty of talent in Intel. I am not concerned about that and effect of Dadi leaving. In short term it had effect on stock price.
Personally thinking, yes. It will not fall that much. If you look at the chart for the day, the fall started right after the news.
Intel was holding up very well till then.
Again, I am not a day trader. I find this opportunity to sell Nov. $23.00 put for $0.27-more than 1% for less than 25 days left.
I did notice that most semi were down. But Intel downward path was due to Dadi resigning. I am not alone in thinking that.
See below.
-----------
How Intel and Microsoft Led the Dow Lower Today
By Anders Bylund | More Articles | Save For Later
October 23, 2013 | Comments (1)
Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over daily movements, we do like to keep an eye on market changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
If you take a look at the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI ) today, you'll find that two of the index's three worst performers come from the tech sector. Not only that, but the biggest losers team up to form the famous Wintel duo. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ) , the inventor of the Windows operating system, plunged as much as 2.4% overnight, while Intel (NASDAQ: INTC ) lost 1.9% at most.
These two stocks often fall and rise in tandem based on the same catalysts, but that's not the case today. Intel is falling for one distinct reason; Microsoft shares suffer from a different malaise.
Personnel issues
For Intel, it's a pretty clear-cut reaction to bad news from the executive suite. David "Dadi" Perlmutter, Intel's chief of architecture (chip designs, not buildings), is leaving Intel in February to close out a career spanning more than three decades.
David Perlmutter, soon to be former head of Intel's architecture group. Image source: Intel.
Perlmutter has been a driving force behind Intel's microprocessor design choices since the early 1990s. When he directed the development of the Pentium Pro and Pentium II processors. He's an industry legend who had his sights on Intel's CEO office when Paul Otellini retired earlier this year.
But he was passed over for then-COO Brian Krzanich, who immediately reduced Perlmutter's power base within Intel. Today's resignation might be seen as the endgame to Intel's CEO search, pushing one highly qualified candidate away in bitter disappointment.
Intel will have Perlmutter on board to smooth out the transition until February, so it's not a clean break with a boot print on Dadi's backside. Still, Intel is losing a valuable human resource and heading into uncharted waters when it comes to big-picture architecture choices. Investors are feeling the pain today.
Worrying about the near future
For Microsoft, the pain points are twofold.
First, Microsoft's brand-new Surface 2 tablet launched to widespread indifference. According to Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry, early sales of the new tablet were "lukewarm" and Microsoft stores in Silicon valley saw "extremely light" foot traffic.
If this was Microsoft's attempt to steal the thunder from Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL ) unveiling of its latest iPad updates on the same day, it was a miserable failure.
Apple CEO Tim Cook did take a few seconds out of his iPad presentation to poke fun at competing tablets, and Microsoft's Surface line specifically. I guess that's a win if you believe that "any publicity is good publicity," but Microsoft investors don't -- and shouldn't -- see it that way. Any reasonable way you slice the Surface 2 launch, Apple walks away as the clear winner in this duel over consumer hearts and minds.
Furthermore, Microsoft investors are bracing for even more bad news on Thursday night. That's when Microsoft reports second-quarter results, and early signs don't look good.
Analyst estimates point to earnings of $0.54 per share on $17.8 billion in sales. That would be an almost flat bottom-line performance compared to the year-ago period, along with 11% higher revenue. But those earnings estimates have been lowered from $0.56 per share over the last two months, and Intel didn't provide much comfort in last week's earnings update.
Microsoft is setting itself up to beat current expectations but follow up with weak guidance for the crucial holiday quarter -- just like Intel. Investors' nerves are starting to rattle, and it shows in Microsoft's share prices.
That's how Intel and Microsoft came to lead the Dow downward today, along very different paths.
One thing for sure. This news dropped the stock 1-2%.
This is quite positive. This could take Intel much higher.
---------------
Jefferies analyst Mark Lipacis reiterated a Buy rating and $30 price target on Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) Monday saying enterprise PC and server spend may have bottomed.
"Using Gartner forecasted shipments from enterprise heavy Dell and HP as a proxy, we show that enterprise PC and YoY spend may have bottomed in 3Q13," Lipacis notes. "We also show that both US and Global investment in Computers and Hardware have been below trend, and wonder if a cyclical investment cycle in PC/Server hardware is nigh. We think investors will be positively surprised by Intel's top line and gross margins over the next 4-to-6 quarters."
For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Intel click here. For more ratings news on Intel click here.
Shares of Intel closed at $23.88 yesterday, with a 52 week range of $19.23-$25.98.
Thanks. No I did not take it that way at all.
But I thought you make some money writing for SA. You will not be able to do so by writing here only.
I think so WBMW. He is losing his shirt on AMD when that is not supposed to happen.
That is great for you.
If it was hard for him, how about you yourself. I am sure you have not even tried it. At least he admitted and gave his reasons as to why it is hard.
summary of various analysts
--------
Intel Rising: Bulls Look Past Soggy Forecast to PC ‘Stabilization,’ Server Strength
By Tiernan Ray
Shares of Intel (INTC) are up 20 cents, or 0.9%, at $23.59, after the company last night beat Q3 expectations but forecast this quarter’s results below consensus, while saying it believes the PC market, while still “tough,” may have hit bottom.
Most analysts today did not make much of CEO Brian Krzanich‘s disclosure, on the conference call following the report, that Intel will delay by one quarter its production ramp of new “Broadwell” desktop chips, till Q1, given some issues with getting proper yield from the production process.
The stock received one ratings change today, from Craig Ellis of B. Riley & Co., who raised his rating to Buy from Neutral, and raised his price target to $28.50 from $25, writing that the results confirmed his sense that the PC market is “stabilizing” and that the company’s position in sales of chips for servers and other data center products is encouraging:
With C14 Consensus EPS now down 12% since YE13, Sell Side “Buy” ratings at an 18-yr low, and signs of developed country PC stabilization emerging into C14, we think 9/19 ppt YTD under-performance to the SOX/S&P 500 overly discount PC negatives which may be turning and overlook clear mfg technology and DCG secular positives […] The guide is $13.70B (+1.6%) +/- $500MM with a 150 bps GM decline to 61.0% and flat opex of $4.70B. On a segment basis DGC should surge 15-20% as traditional US/ Europe enterprise finally recovers to compliment ongoing Cloud, HPC and Storage strength. Implicitly this means PC Client will fall 4.0% to 5.0% qq, even greater than the – 3.0% we forecast and far below the Street’s +2.0%. On lower volume and one- offs GM drop 100 bps qq but are flat qq, while tight opex is maintained for a $100M variance to our forecast. So, Street estimates will fall from $14.20B (+4.5%)/ $0.54 while we move from $13.51B (-1.2%)/$0.49 to $13.7B/$0.52.
Jefferies & Co.’s Mark Lipacis reiterates a Buy rating on the shares, and a $30 price target, writing that weakness in PCs doesn’t dim his view that Intel’s manufacturing edge in chip process technology will yet pay off:
Intel’s outlook for 8 Bay Trail-based Hybrid-PC/Tablet SKUs shipping for Black Friday are lower than we expected, but we chalk it up to a bumpy product transition. We didn’t hear anything to change our view that Intel’s manufacturing leadership would lead to share gains in low cost/power MPUs. We would use weakness as a buying opportunity.
MKM Partners’s Ada Menaker reiterates a Buy rating, and a $28 price target, writing that “Guidance was better than some investors may have feared,” and that “we continue to like catalysts in coming quarters – these include surging data center demand (helped by a budget flush in “classic” enterprise), a run at QCOM’s (NR, $68.17) exclusivity in wireless LTE modems (product shipping in 2H14), and an increasing competitive advantage as 14nm manufacturing ramps (INTC maintains a technology lead here despite a one-quarter push out).”
Menaker also highlights the momentum in the data center products group, which casts in stark relief the weakness in PCs:
We note an acceleration of Data center growth expected in Q4 (expected above Q3's 12% Y/Y increase) given a recovery in “classic” enterprise due to an IT budget flush as well as ongoing strength in large data centers. Investors should increasingly focus on fundamentals in DCG, as 22% of Q3 sales continues to increase on outpeformance. Management commentary implies continued weakness in PCs. Commentary around DCG growth expectations (approaching double digit Y/Y growth) implies continued declines in the PC group – we now model a 4.8% decline in 2013, followed by an additional 1.8% in 2014. While management remains excited at the range of new products in the marketplace, we believe there continues to be PC device fatigue due to competing products (tablets, game consoles) and little enthusiasm for touch-enabled ultrabooks (despite the cost added for touch declining to $50). We also note that a one-quarter pushout of Broadwell implies that little product may be available for next year’s back- to-school shopping season – our PC Client estimates thus move lower.
The bears today are still rather skeptical that new “Haswell” processors and “Baytrail” chips will pick up the company’s standing in mobile devices.
UBS‘s Stephen Chin today reiterates a Neutral rating, while raising his price target to $24 from $22.50, writing,
Intel believes PC demand in mature markets (U.S. and Western Europe) have bottomed and momentum in new 2-in-1 PCs using its Haswell chip priced sub-$349 and new BayTrail chips priced sub- $299 will be a key driver for the stock in 2014 where we still lack conviction.
Canaccord Genuity‘s Bobby Burleson reiterates a Hold rating, and a $20 price target, writing “the consumer PC market has not reached a bottom and is likely to see escalating cannibalization with the ramp of iPad 5 and competition from low cost tablets in emerging markets.”
“We see the US government shutdown as an additional risk to Q4 guidance, and note that it has recently been added to Intel’s statement of risks.”
Yes. Any delay is delay. No argument about that. But implications of the delay are minimum from business point of view. That is how I read it.
Here is another interesting discussion from cc. Intel density is higher than Apple A7. And with 14nm it will get even better.
-----------------
Vivek Arya - BoA/Merrill Lynch
Got it, and then as my follow-up. I wanted to just get a sense for how much of a leapfrog advantage will 14 nanometer provide in the mobile market because recently we saw very impressive benchmarks from Apple on their A7 SoC. I understand that they optimized a lot of things within their system that other customers may not be able to do but they were able to show very impressive benchmarks on 28 nanometer silicon. I am wondering as you think about your 14 nanometer products and the fact that you will really need to leapfrog to get major share in mobile how should we think about how big those advantages will be, like what the discussion with customer have been so far?
Brian Krzanich - Chief Executive Officer, Director
Sure. So, let's make sure, I mean you just kind of used the generic word of benchmarks and there are lot of different ones that are out there. So I am not sure exactly which ones you are talking about. But if you just take a look at our products and all of our products are 64-bit. So we have had that for an extended period of time and products that we are shipping today are already 64-bit. If you take a look at things like transistor density and you compare, pardon the pun, apples-to-apples and you compare, say, the A7 to our Bay Trail, which is the high density 22 nanometer technology then our transistor density is higher or more dense than the A7 is. So it's a good product. I am not in any way trying to deface that, but we do see the Moore's Law advantage from 28 to 22 nanometer as an example, when you compare dense technologies to dense technologies.
We believe 14 nanometer it just an another extension of Moore's Law. So it will have that same roughly twice density that you will see between 28 and 22 nanometer. You will see that same kind of increase or improvements as you move to 14. It is a true 14 nanometer technology. Did I answer your question?
Vivek Arya - BoA/Merrill Lynch
Yes. So Brian, maybe what I was trying to get to was, as you look at the kind of Android customers or Chrome customers that you might engage with 14 nanometer. How is that changing from the engagement that you have with Bay Trail? Basically the question is, is the level of engagement accelerating as they look at your 14 nanometer progress?
Brian Krzanich - Chief Executive Officer, Director
So, yes. From that perspective, they see a roadmap now. I think more importantly than just 14 nanometer. What they see is a roadmap from us around the Atom SoC. They see Bay Trail as a great first step and great product. You have seen some of the performance benchmarks out there. We just talked about the transistor density. Stacy has talked about our cost and ability to hit these lower prices points. It has got good graphics performance. As I said we are able to provide a 64-bit solution across all OS options as well.
So they look at that and then they look at our roadmap, and say okay, they have got LTE, they have got connectivity, they have got a standalone, they have plans to integrate those technologies in, in a basic SoC. They are starting to build confidence in our roadmap along with us. That's, I think, what they really look at this as they see our Atom roadmap that's highly competitive.
Vivek Arya - BoA/Merrill Lynch
Thank you.
Here is the reason of 14nm delay-right out of cc.
------------------------------
Sure. It's absolutely not the latter. It was simply a defect density issue. This was on the issue -- as we develop these technologies, what you are doing? You are continually improving the defect densities and those resulted in the yield, the number of die per wafer that you get out of the product and what happened as you insert a set of fixes in groups, you will put four or five, maybe sometimes six or seven fixes into a process and group it together, run it through and you will expect an improvement rate occasionally as you go through that. The fixes don't deliver all of the improvements [stock], we had one of those.
You may have a point but without any ROI it is difficult to keep on investing. OEMs will loose faith in Intel product road map.
Even Qualcomm products are mostly based on 600 and not 800. Yes two can co-exist. Intel is trying to break into this market and Qualcomm is trying to protect its base. There is huge difference.
New CEO is manufacturing guy. He is not going to make this kind of mistake. I do understand this very well.
I think Asharaf, you are expecting too much. Baytrail was introduced some time back(not that far off). Its derivatives are still being introduced. How do you expect Intel announce Cherry trail to make Baytrail obsolete. Intel will have to scrap a lot of Baytrail if that was to happen.
Haswell introduction has not helped IB inventory.
In my opinion, every thing is happening/being adjusted to prevailing market conditions.
Just to make sure from where I am coming from, I have not heard to cc yet.
Q4 below expectations
--------------------
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Intel Corp. intc issued that was below analysts' expectations, though the chip giant also trimmed its planned capital spending for the rest of the year. The stock rose by 1.5% in after-hours trades, as earnings for the third quarter . For the December period, Intel said it expects revenue of $13.7 billion, plus or minus $500 million. Analysts were expecting revenue of $14 billion for the period. Gross margins are expected to come in around 61%, plus or minus a couple percentage points. Intel trimmed projected capital spending for the full 2013 fiscal year to $10.8 billion compared to the $11 billion forecast it gave back in July.
Revenue in line but earnings better by $0.05
Oct 15 (Reuters) - Intel Corp :
* Reports third-quarter revenue of $13.5 billion, net income of $3.0 billion
* Q3 earnings per share $0.58
* Q3 earnings per share view $0.53, revenue view $13.46 billion -- Thomson
Reuters I/B/E/S
* Q3 pc client group revenue of $8.4 billion, up 3.5 percent sequentially
* Q3 gross margin 62.4%, up 4.1 pts
* Sees Q4 revenue: $13.7 billion, plus or minus $500 million
* Sees full-year capital spending $10.8 billion, plus or minus $300 million
* Q4 revenue view $14.00 billion -- Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S
* Sees Q4 gross margin percentage: 61 percent, plus or minus a couple of
percentage points
* Q3 data center group revenue of $2.9 billion, up 6.2 percent sequentially
* Source text - http://link.reuters.com/xef83v * Further company coverage ((Bangalore Newsroom; +1 646 223 8780))
Finally there is a hope in PC industries.
-----------------------
http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2013/10/14/intc-amd-can-benefit-from-15-20-chip-sales-growth-in-14-says-wells/
INTC, AMD Can Benefit from 15%-20% Chip Sales Growth in ’14, Says Wells
By Tiernan Ray
Wells Fargo‘s David Wong today offers up his reading on trends in the chip industry, citing data from the Semiconductor Industry Association, showing what he thinks is “the beginning of a seasonal pickup in PC activity.”
There have been month on month increases in year-over-year semi sales for several months, he notes:
Global semiconductor sales are continuing to improve steadily, with year-over-year growth of 10% in the month of August, following 8% growth in July, 2% growth in June and 6% growth in May. The three-month rolling average of chip shipments was up 1% month over month in August, following 3% month-over-month growth in July, 1% growth in June and 5% in May.
He likes more recent trends, too, and thinks even the bad news about the PC market has been encouraging:
Sales for our Taiwanese notebook original device manufacturer (ODM) aggregate rose 13% month over month. Notebook unit shipments from Taiwanese ODM companies rose 8% month over month. Our aggregate of Taiwanese motherboard/computer companies rose 42% month over month and even excluding Pegatron, which had an unusual increase, sales for the other companies was up 29% month over month. Several Percent Sequential Growth For PCs In The September Quarter As A Whole Sales for our Taiwanese notebook ODM aggregate rose 7% sequentially. Notebook unit shipments from Taiwanese ODM companies rose 3.5% sequentially. Our aggregate of Taiwanese motherboard/computer companies rose 22% sequentially and was up 17% even if we exclude Pegatron. Gartner estimates that worldwide PC market unit shipments grew 6% sequentially. Improving Year-Over-Year Comparisons
? September-quarter sales for our Taiwanese notebook ODM composite decreased 4% year over year, an improvement over the 6% year-over-year decline for the June quarter For the September quarter as a whole, notebook units for our aggregate fell about 7.5% year over year, an improvement over the 9.5% year-over-year decline in the June quarter. Aggregate revenue for our aggregate of Taiwanese motherboard/computer increased 4% year over year in the September quarter, compared to a 5% drop in the June quarter. Gartner’s number for the global PC market in the September 2013 quarter implies shipments decreased 9% yr/yr compared to an 11% decline in the June quarter and a 13% decline in the March quarter.
Wong maintains a forecast for chip sales growth of 8% to 20% this year, although if trends keep improving, sales “could exit this year with year-over-year growth of close to 20%,” leaving 2014 with growth of 15% to 20%.
Wong adds that chip equipment spending has been slowing and may result in higher fab utilization by Intel (INTC) and others, leading to strength in pricing:
The ratio of worldwide semiconductor equipment sales to semiconductor IC sales was 11.4% in August, compared to 12.9% in July and 12.3% in June. We consider this to be a low ratio of reinvestment compared to the more typical 15-20% we have seen in recent “normal” years, suggesting that the chip industry is continuing to hold down spending to avoid excess capacity issues, in our view. The North American semiconductor equipment data showed that the book-to-bill ratio was 0.98 in August compared to 1.0 in July and 1.1 in June. Meanwhile, bookings decreased 3% month over month in August. It appears that semiconductor equipment demand might be moderating after several months of solid growth in the early part of 2013. We believe capacity expansion will remain muted through the rest of 2013, and we expect capacity utilization will rise as chip demand recovers, resulting in firm chip pricing.
Among Wong’s chip stock ratings, he has an Outperform on shares of Intel, Linear Technology (LLTC), Analog Devices (ADI), Altera (ALTR), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Hittite Microwave (HITT), International Rectifier (IRF), Micrel (MCRL), Microsemi (MSCC), Monolithic Power (MPWR), Qualcomm (QCOM), and Spansion (CODE). He has Market Perform ratings on Broadcom (BRCM), Maxim (MXIM), Nvidia (NVDA), Texas Instruments (TXN), and Xilinx (XLNX). He rates Micron Technology (MU) shares Underperform.
Thanks, WBMW. It appears that Samsung is content to use others app processors and not its own for tablets markets.
The top players will be apple, Qualcomm like you stated and then Intel.
I see it going that way. Amazon and Google will not switch to Intel any time soon on existing products.
Based on your analysis(which is absolutely great), where is Intel is getting its volume to be in top 5 as state din your previous post ahead of various Chinese suppliers.
Intel is even ahead of Qualcomm.
It is still based on Clovertail+ and not on Baytrail.
Baytrail should be even more impressive with similar spec.
What a joke!
-------------
Oct 11 (Reuters) - Intel Corp :
* JP Morgan raises target price to $20 from $18; rating neutral
You are right. I recall as you pointed out that Intel will go bankrupt because it will have to pay so much.
Every opportunity you get, you bring up Dell. It appears that must have lost your shirt either with AMD or DELl. I am sure you sleep with these two names on your sleeve. Extremely bitter at Intel
Fujitsu tablet shown by mas is what Apple wants to do. Fujitsu beat Apple to it. These are so called new computing devices.
Headlines are very encouraging. Things are going to change soon for its Stock price as well.
--------------
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davealtavilla/2013/09/11/intels-bay-trail-impresses-you-wont-have-atom-to-kick-around-anymore/
Intel's Bay Trail Impresses, You Won't Have Atom To Kick Around Anymore
Let’s be candid. Over the years, Intel INTC -1.4%‘s Atom architecture, where it took residence in netbooks, convertibles, or tablets didn’t exactly light up performance metrics or inspire jaw-dropping mobile experiences. Sure, Intel figured out a way to mitigate power consumption but Atom has taken a fair bit of flack for its lack-luster performance, especially in multimedia and graphics. More recently, Intel has been making iterative enhancements to Atom that have realized measurable gains, though only affording performance parity with competitive midrange ARM-based devices from the likes of Qualcomm QCOM -1.17%and Samsung. Intel’s Clover Trail architecture, launched earlier this year, definitely offers a better Windows 8 tablet experience but it didn’t invigorate mobile device manufacturers to invest in Android on X86.
At Intel Developer’s Forum (IDF) in San Francisco this week, the company took the wraps off a new Atom architecture, code named Bay Trail, that just may turn some little green alien heads and it’s definitely a big shot in the arm (no pun intended) for the Windows tablet platform in general. It seems you won’t have Atom to kick around anymore. Bay Trail is what Atom feels like it should have been all along.
Intel Bay Trail Atom Die
Intel Bay Trail Atom Die - 4 Cores, 2MB L2 Cache, DX11 Graphics
Intel’s new Bay Trail architecture in the just-announced Atom Z3000 series of SoCs (System-on-Chip), is based on Intel’s first out of order processor core for Atom. Out of order execution allows for more efficient instruction processing, alleviating idle states. Typically OOE architectures are costly, silicon area-wise but with Intel’s manufacturing prowess and 22nm Tri-Gate 3D silicon technologies, silicon real estate is cheap, relatively speaking of course.
Intel's Bay Trail Atom Z3000
Galaxy What? ASUS Transforms Your Zen With Impressive Tablets, Phablets And Ultrabooks At IFA
Dave AltavillaDave Altavilla
Contributor
The Bay Trail Atom Z3000 is a quad-core or dual core architecture that doesn’t offer Intel HyperThreading but instead allows a one-to-one core to thread mapping with out of order execution. Intel has enabled up to 4GB system RAM configurations up to speeds of DDR3-1333. The integrated graphics core on Bay Trail is a derivative of Ivy Bridge, boasting full DX11 compatibility and significantly better performance versus the previous generation Clover Trail PowerVR SGX544/545 graphics core. There are 4 EUs (Execution Units) in Bay Trail’s graphics engine, each capable of 8 threads for a total of 32. Hardware accelerated video encode/decode engines are on board here as well and display support for HDMI 1.4, DP 1.2 and eDP 1.3 is in there, with a max resolution of 2560×1600.
That’s a high level breakdown of the major blocks, though Bay Trail has a lot of additional enhancements in imaging and power saving technologies as well, with aggressive fine-grained clock gating at the functional block level for graphics and CPU core resources. Bay Trail can, like previous generation architectures, burst performance when needed and shut down blocks when idle to conserve battery life. More on that after a quick look at the family tree…
Intel Atom Z3000 Family
As we see here, there are a currently six Bay Trail Atom variants with either 2 or 4-core devices, and varying speeds and feeds for DRAM, as well a display resolution support. It’s clear Intel intends to drive Bay Trail across the spectrum of tablets devices from higher-end detachable hybrids, to 7 and 8-inch ultra-portable slates. Forbes contributor and industry analyst, Pat Moorhead of Moor Insights and Strategy thinks “Bay Trail is best suited for 10-inch form factors because users will be doing more content creation on them, but that doesn’t make it unsuitable for an 8 inch tablet.”
Performance and Battery Life: King and Queen
I’ll cut to the chase for you here. Intel’s new Bay Trail Atom Z3000 absolutely crushes their previous generation Clover Trail design in terms of performance, no matter how you look at the numbers. Under standard compute workloads, web browsing and the like, Bay Trail clocks in on-par or faster than some of the latest ARM core designs. In graphics and multimedia, testing shows Bay Trail is able to also hang with some of the fastest tablet chips on the market now, though a notch behind NVIDIA’s Tegra 4; which admittedly we’ve only seen higher-clocked variants of with active cooling, versus the passively cooled Intel Bay Trail tablets we’ve had hands-on time with.
Battery life-wise, I think we can expect new Atom Z3000-powered tablets to offer up-time at least on parity with Intel’s previous generation Clover Trail Atom design; perhaps a touch better under light duty workloads and idle states, though the chip is more power hungry if you stress it and tap its extra performance, especially the graphics core. Again, Bay Trail should be market-competitive here.
All told, Intel has teed up Bay Trail quite nicely and the Atom Z3000 series could make for excellent alternative tablet offerings this Q4 shopping season. Windows 8 slates are being queued up now for the new platform and are expected to hit next month, with Android offerings reported soon to follow. Intel’s new Bay Trail Atom family is the proverbial “real deal.” The remaining variables are what manufacturers are going to do with the new Atom and how are those tablet offerings will compete feature-wise with the likes of Apple AAPL -1.28% and the ARM/Android army. We’ll find out soon enough.
You may have seen this. It is Intel efforts to get into embedded market in a big way.
-------------------
Intel Underscores Focus On Maker Market, Furthers X86 With Galileo
Comment Now Follow Comments
It’s obvious that, as of recent times anyway, Intel INTC -1.27% has had their work cut out for themselves with adjacent and new market opportunities beyond their core strengths of desktop and enterprise computing. Though chipzilla may dominate X86 desktop, workstation and server solutions, mobile platforms, powered by licensed ARM core integrations, dominate handsets and tablets. While Intel hurries to play catch-up in the ultra-mobile space (and they appear to finally be executing), low cost single-board computing is apparently an area the company has set its sights on for growth as well.
Intel's Bay Trail Impresses, You Won't Have Atom To Kick Around Anymore
Dave AltavillaDave Altavilla
Contributor
3D Printing Makes Meaning, Not Just Products
Women 2.0Women 2.0
Contributor
Maybe it was the wild success of the ARM-powered Raspberry Pi that keyed Intel on it. It’s quite amazing how big the Raspberry Pi foundation has grown over the years and the number of creative things people are doing with the device, from tiny media servers, to 3D Printer control engines. That said, it’s not so much the products that Intel seems to be after but the “maker” revolution that’s taking off like wildfire. It used to be that the DIY set built their own PCs with Intel processors and off the shelf components and of course that market is still alive and well. These days however, people are also creating, engineering and making all kinds of systems with embedded computers and Intel is smartly jumping into the fray.
Earlier this summer, Intel offered up the Minnow Board, a tiny Intel dual-core Atom mini PC that competes with the likes of the Raspberry Pi, though significantly pricier at $199. The Minnow has a lot of on board features beyond the Raspberry Pi, however, with HDMI, microSD, 2 USB hosts, PCI Express EXPR -3.36%, 3Gbps SATA and an Ethernet port. Regardless, Intel knew they had to get to a lower price point.
Intel’s next move in low cost single board computing is Galileo, a tiny, roughly 4-inch by 3-inch computer based on Intel’s fully synthesizable Quark X1000 system on a chip and it’s much more cost competitive.
Intel Galileo Single Board Computer Based On Quark X1000 SoC
Galileo is a development board based on the Quark X1000 SoC and sports a 32-bit Intel Pentium ISA-based CPU core that is 1/5th the size of the Minnow Board’s Atom core and draws much less power. It’s clocked at 400MHz and also offers USB, Ethernet and PCI Express Gen 2 connectivity. It’s also Arduino software compatible, which should give Intel access to a very large and stable base of users, engineers and creators already working with the controller code.
Intel Galileo Board Block Diagram
Intel Galileo Board Block Diagram
Pricing is being targeted south of $60 and Intel is planning on giving away up to 50,000 of the boards to as many as 1,000 universities worldwide by the end of 2014. Head here to apply. It’s the right move for Intel at the right time. Since Quark X1000 is a fully synthesizable core, Intel is taking a page from ARM’s playbook, offering for the first time a licensed technology sales model for integration with third party IP. Intel will fab Quark-based integrations as well, which should bolster fab utilization on Intel’s 32nm node and future fab processes as the technology migrates.
Getting Quark X1000 with Galileo into the hands of colleges and universities for free will help seed innovation and early adoption of Intel’s latest, now fully synthesizable X86 low power core. It will be interesting to see what the markers create with Galileo and if in some way in the future, it helps springboard low power X86 into new, more disruptive technologies and solutions.