Intel Corp (INTC)

[chipguy]

Tech Triage.

It is clear that we are in a period of economic setback
of a severity not seen for perhaps 50 years or more.
Battlefield triage is a process in which casualties are
divided into three categories - 1) those who would likely
survive despite no immediate attention, 2) those who have
a good chance of surviving if given immediate attention,
and 3) those who unlikely to survive even with maximum
attention. Obviously those in category 2) are given the
top priority for medical attention.

For the sake of argument I want to "triage" the top tech
firms into three categories - 1) companies almost certain
to be around in their current form and business 2 years
from now, 2) companies that may or may not survive
intact depending on management's course of actions,
and 3) the walking dead.

Category 1) is IMO easy - Apple, Cisco, Dell, IBM, Intel,
HP, MS, Oracle, and SAP for starters. It gets tricky rating
everyone else and slotting them between 2) and 3). TI
seems like the prototype for a category 2) company. IMO
the leading candidates for 3) are AMD, Cray, Freescale,
Nortel, SGI, and Sun although if the recession proves
short and shallow some of those (AMD?, Sun?) may be
in fact be salvageable and should be in 2).

Any other suggestions or comments?