Intel Corp (INTC)

[FCguy]

I think your argument underweights the lag time between wafer starts an shipped goods. Yes, the new guidance was very sudden and fairly deep...that said Intel has been starting wafers until very recently...that's a lot of product now in transit. My knowledge is out of date ... but back in the day if we tried to hold work in progress for anything more than a minimal delay ... yield took a holiday. Might not be the case today but if it is Intel could be looking at many weeks of capacity coming down the pipe. Also perhaps out of date was the fact that if we tried to throttle a line down to less than 70 to 75% of capacity ... again yield took a holiday.

So until and unless Intel can move products around so that an older fab or two can be idled they may be eating inventory.

Like I said, I'm out of date, but perhaps someone current will chime in.