INTC
Live by the Boom, Die the Boom
Emcore was skewered this week by a blog post highlighting the questionable nature of some of it’s solar contracts, and the skittish solar money ran for the exits.
10GbE and SFP+ - This Time It’s Different
One of our more popular theme pieces (see “Five Misconceptions About the 10G Optical Market“) examined the state of the 10GbE market and sought to identify the gaps between market perception and reality. It’s time to publish an update with the facts we have collected and opinions we’ve formed since then.
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Intel on AMD’s Barcelona: "Too Little Too Late"
Pat Gelsinger, Senior VP/GM of Intel’s (INTC) Digital Enterprise group (i.e. CPUs), keynoted the JPMorgan Technology Investment conference yesterday, and as ususal, the really interesting bits were in the Q&A.
OFC 2007 Exec Forum - Ten Things You Missed
Here’s a top 10 list of my most notable observations from the Executive Forum at the Optical Fiber Conference in Anaheim last Monday.
Apple iTV - Intel and NVIDIA Inside
Anandtech released the first Apple (AAPL) iTV hardware teardown accompanied by excellent analysis. Here are my takeaways, aided by their astute photos and observations.
Intel Inside the Sun
Intel (INTC) has nearly completed a complete clawback of server market supremacy with today’s announcement that Sun Microsystems (SUNW) will closely collaborate with Intel. After substantially improving their devices and surpassing the benchmarks set by AMD (AMD), Intel is back in the drivers seat when it comes to high margin server CPUs. This was an outcome I felt was never in doubt.
Nyquist Predictions For 2007
Prediction is an entertaining activity better suited for stimulating discussion than providing an absolute outlook on the future. Therefore, the bolder and more controversial, the better. Keep that in mind as you read and respond.
Fun With Market Caps
Quick, rank the 10 following companies by market capitalization from large to small. If pressed for time, try picking the three biggest and three smallest.
Vitesse Investment Thesis
I’ve been engaged in constant debate with readers and other investors about my position in Vitesse Semiconductor since disclosing it. Based on reader email, it was one of my more unpopular opinions. I thought it would be appropriate to share my investment thesis from early August with a wider audience.
Death of the All Optical Network - Gilder Telecosm 2006
Infinera took the bold and stunning risk of angering the Gilder priesthood by illustrating that an all optical network was not the future and not the best solution.
Storewidth Bottlenecks - Gilder Telecosm 2006
This was a very interesting debate among some very heavy hitters who operate data centers about where the bottlenecks are in the data centers, and if the new model of massively distributed computing in one centralized data center is a sustainable model.
Cortina Acquires Intel Comm Semi’s
It’s official. Looks like Cortina acquired a digestible portion of Intel’s (INTC) comm semi product line, forgoing the network processors that would bring high SG&A overhead. They focused on the parts they could plug into the company to generate cash flow.
Cortina Acquires Intel Comm Semi Assets
This is a developing story. This post will change as I learn more.
It appears Cortina Systems will purchase and operate the communication semiconductor assets of Intel (INTC).
Quake - Another Failed AMCC Acquisition
The slow motion disaster movie that is Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (AMCC) is still in theaters even though investors stopped buying tickets long ago.
AMCC announced this morning an all cash deal to buy Quake Technologies for $69M net. AMCC has managed to spend nearly $1BB in cash on a number of acquisitions, none of which have provided a return better than simply sticking the dollars in the bank. We feel that Quake will be yet another failed acquisition.
AMD buys ATI
What was rampant speculation (including ours) is now official- AMD (AMD) is buying ATI Technologies (ATYT), a Canadian maker of graphics accelerator chipsets.
Graphics acceleration is no longer for gaming freaks; the new version of Microsoft Vista contains advanced visual features dubbed “Aero” that demand more functionality than the standard video frame buffer can provide.
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Life During Wartime
Saw a Reuters newswire release on Intel (INTC) and how their engineers are continuing to work in Haifa even though the city is being periodically hit with Hizbollah (Syrian? Lebanese? Whose?) rockets.
The Intel article on wi-fi bomb shelters, while a surprise to some, was not a surprise to me. It reminded me of the time I first visited Israel for business, February 25th, 1998.
China Semiconductor Market Share
Interesting little factoid-table on semiconductor market share in China.
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Intel - Putting the Hurt on AMD
The pre-release benchmarks and rumors about Intel’s (INTC) new architecture are holding firm now that the silicon has seen official release.
Two independent reviewers have written opinions about the new Intel Core processors (see below)… both were previously solid AMD (AMD) supporters.
Intel has now seized a commanding lead in performance desktop processors. This is in addition to the spectacular technical success of Woodcrest in Server space - where AMD has caused the most financial damage.
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Head Down, Working
Received a couple emails and a Yahoo! IM today with the same question… why no blogging?
I’m working on a detailed study on optical modules. I think I’ve found something particularly interesting.
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1995-2000 - Euphoria in Perspective
On July 17, 1995 the NASDAQ Index crossed 1,000 for the first time; just 5 1/3 years later, on March 9, 2000 it crossed 5,000. In the period perhaps $12 Trillion of wealth was created in US stocks.
The five following stocks of the era, the ‘nifty five’, grew in market cap by almost $2 trillion during the five plus year period, accounting for 1/6th of this stock wealth creation.
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