Replies to post #139915 on Intel Corp (INTC)

[Saturn V]

I think that the Altera acquisition is potentially a big winner.

As noted by others, server manufacturers have expressed a strong desire for a FPGA where they can customize the hardware for their requirements. Putting the server chip and the FPGA on one same chip obviously improves the speed and lowers the power as well. Apart from the improving the high end server products, I even see a big advantage in lower end products. The customers can include custom peripheral circuitry on the processor chip. If that was done a few years ago, the contra revenue problem not have been as severe for tablet chips. The Intel designs did not meet the exact customer requirements, and so we ended up with the contra revenue. Intel design cycle appears to be too long, and so a on chip FPGA will definitely help for thin and light type products. In addition the tooling cost these days for a new custom design is also very high. So FPGA would be a fast cost effective means of customization for special features.

I am glad Intel picked Altera,with whom a foundry agreement is already in existence, That means that the latest Altera products have already been ported to the Intel process, and so the addition of the FPGA should be very quick. Contrast that to the Infineon acquisition, where it has taken several years to redesign the Infineon communication chips on the Intel processes.

But the Intel history of acquisitions has been spotty. McAfee acquisition seemed like a good idea, but I have not seen a new killer product after the acquisition. Hopefully we will have better luck with Altera.