Replies to post #127516 on Intel Corp (INTC)

[fastpathguru]

One would ordinarily add in short term investments as they are readily convertible to cash. Intel has $10 billion in short term investments whereas TSM has almost nothing. In terms of liquid assets Intel has a decided edge.

So A) You don't now dispute that TSMC has more cash than Intel (which you did before), and B) TSMC has a buttload of cash. I.e. They're not in any imminent fundamental danger as you are proclaiming.

Here you have to take dividends into account as well. But you really can't take a single data point. Intel has generated a lot of extra free cash flow over the last four years. TSM has not. As previously stated, TSM's dividends have exceeded their free cash flow in all of the last 4 years. This is not at all the case with Intel.

I don't know what to say... Maybe your pet metric isn't as important as you think it is regarding the long-term health of TSMC.

Net margin is the metric that smaller companies use to make them look better in comparison to larger companies. But the truth is that Intel's revenues and net profits dwarf those of TSM, which is why Intel can afford its R&D, CapEx, and dividends without much of a problem while TSM is being crushed by its CapEx and dividend requirements.

Any sober look at the financials of the two companies will confirm what I'm saying. The numbers are the numbers.

Pooh pooh Intel's relatively poorer net margin... Just ignore the fact that Intel has to spend far more per dollar earned than TSMC. Just stick with your Big Company Gross Margins if it makes you feel better.

I see TSMC scaling capacity in both wafers/month AND transisters/wafer, not just the latter.

fpg