Yahoo Finance Intel Taps Every Opportunity to Grow in PC Space
Why Were Investors Surprised at Intel’s Fiscal 4Q15 Earnings?
Intel in supplementary market
In the previous part of this series, we saw that Intel (INTC) is planning to grow into the slowing computing space through segmentation and integration. It aims to become a one-stop solution for all computing semiconductor needs. Therefore, it’s expanding its portfolio to include supplementary products such as FPGA (field-programmable gate array) and discrete GPU (graphic processing unit).
FPGA
Cloud companies use FPGAs to boost server capacity. So Intel acquired Altera to provide its server customers with FPGA integrated Xeon chips. In the meantime, IBM (IBM) and Qualcomm (QCOM) partnered with Xilinx (XLNX) to provide FPGA integrated server solutions.
Discrete GPU
According to Jon Peddie Research, Intel already owns 75% of the overall GPU market. It’s now entering the discrete GPU market, which is dominated by Nvidia (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). At CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2016, Intel stated that it’s developing a gaming NUC (Next Unit of Computing) under the code name Skull Canyon. The NUC would be powered with quad-core sixth-generation Skylake Core i7 and Iris Pro 580 iGPU (integrated graphics processing unit).
Like all other Intel products, Skull Canyon could steal the market from AMD’s Project Quantum, which integrates Intel Core i7 and the Radeon R9 Fury X2 video card into an NUC-style design processor.
This is yet another integration project that removes the need to buy GPUs separately. Even if Intel charges a higher price for iGPU integrated Core i7 products, they would prove to be less expensive for PC OEMs (other equipment manufacturers) compared to buying GPUs separately.
In the next part of this series, we’ll take a close look at the company’s fiscal 2015 expenses. The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) has exposure to large-cap stocks, including 0.81% in INTC and 0.39% in QCOM.
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