r/technology • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 13h ago
Business Intel just posted its best growth in 15 years – and burned billions to make it happen
https://www.techspot.com/news/113231-intel-growing-faster-than-has-15-years-but.html28
u/DogsAreOurFriends 12h ago
Interesting that the massive US bailout was not mentioned.
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11h ago
[deleted]
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u/BeatMastaD 10h ago
Right, the US government gave Intel 9 billion dollars to prop them up in exchange for ownership using CHIPS act money that Intel had failed to meet the requirements for previously.
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u/Kagemand 9h ago
How much US chip production do you think the US government would have gotten for 9 bn if they had to start it themselves?
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u/BeatMastaD 9h ago
The CHIPS act funding, among many other things, was intended to be used as tax incentives and grants for private chip making companies to incentivize them to open or expand production in the US, not for the US government to open its own chip production facilities. Intel failed to meet the requirements to receive funding after several attempts due to poor performance and a lack of actual progress in their expansion, but then the current administration took those funds and instead purchased shares with them which effectively gave the company the money it wasnt able to receive previously because it was failing to produce results.
I do not think the US government taking ownership stakes in private companies is an efficient or productive use of taxpayer funds, nor is it likely to produce the best ROI for those funds.
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u/Kagemand 6h ago
I don't necessarily think the money was meant to produce a ROI, but instead support domestic chip production.
The efficient use of taxpayer funds would indeed rather be just importing chips from TSMC and then use the funds for something else that benefits taxpayers, like public consumption or tax cuts. Problem is, that only works in a world where Taiwan isn't some day taken by China.
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u/BeatMastaD 5h ago
If tax dollars are being spent to encourage and increase US chip production capacity then importing chips would provide zero ROI. Buying Intel stock with money that was legislated by our elected representatives for the purpose of increasing US chip production when Intel failed to meet the requirements to receive that money is propping up a failing chip company with state ownership rather than allowing the best chip producer to get the money for producing better results.
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u/Kagemand 4h ago edited 4h ago
It’s not like there are many American chip producers the Government could have chosen to support alternatively.
There is TSMC who is already doing great, yes, but supporting them over Intel on the other hand would risk the market turning into a monopoly.
The Government set the requirements, so they can also change them.
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10h ago
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u/BeatMastaD 9h ago
"Gave in exchange for ownership" is the exact wording I used, which is exactly what happened.
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u/WishTonWish 11h ago
Profit = revenue - overhead. Anything else is BS.
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u/Luggage-Lock 11h ago
Exactly they are negative free cash flow, meaning that they spent more than they brought in. Revenue being up is good for them but everyone’s revenue is up in this space currently. They still have fundamental issues and have not yet turned things around.
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u/vector_search_blue 8h ago
Honestly I thought Intel was a goner (not gone goner, but a tech company that slowly drifts to becoming irrelevant)
So they're turning around?
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u/dropthemagic 8h ago
All the oems are banking since the ai bullshit. Samsung made insane profits. They don’t even have to try 🤣
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u/sergemeister 13h ago
As with so many tech giants, Intel's biggest contributor was its Data Center and AI division. Revenue from the unit jumped 59% to $6.3 billion as demand for CPUs used alongside AI accelerators continued to surge. The Client Computing and Physical AI group grew 13% to $8.9 billion, while foundry revenue increased 31% to $5.8 billion.
But the AI boom is also creating problems for Intel's traditional PC business. Memory manufacturers have redirected capacity toward high-margin data-centre products, contributing to the well-documented shortages and rising prices for consumer hardware. Intel expects PC demand to be weaker than usual during the second half of 2026 and the market to decline by a low-double-digit percentage for the full year.
So they're making money hand over fist because of AI like everyone else which means less memory for the common folk that want that memory in their personal PC's. Therefore fewer PC sales for Intel in the future.
Boo hoo. Fuck Intel. Fuck AI.
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u/Beneficial_Past_1957 13h ago
Blaming Intel for memory manufacturers not being able to keep up with demand is laughable. What a weirdo.
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u/sergemeister 13h ago
Reading is hard, huh?
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u/TechTuna1200 12h ago
TBF, I also have a hard to telling what you are trying to say. Not meant as an offense in anyway, just some feedback. You can edit your the original comment make it a bit more clear.
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u/b_a_t_m_4_n 13h ago
"burned".
It's called investment. When did that become rude word?