Apple and Samsung in the Fray to Acquire Intel: Rumor

[Count von Schwalbe]

IMHO, the US government would be more likely to release CHIPS funding without stipulations before letting Intel be bought out by a foreign company.

The 2020-21 chip shortage really brought the strategic importance of chip manufacturing to the government's attention.

 

[ScaLibBDP]

>>...AI GPU architecture under the "Ponte Vecchio" project. Intel's Xe-HP AI GPU missed its performance targets

Intel Ponte Vecchio GPU architecture was Never designed as AI capable ( however you could tune it to work with AI models! ) since the design work started well Before an AI-boom started. "AI" term was added recently. Period.

The same applies to Intel Xe-HP GPU architecture and "AI" term was added recently. Period.

Personally, as a C/C++ Software Engineer with a significant experience in GPU programming I'm very negative regarding all these rumours spread by TechPowerUp ( TPU ).

Take into account, TPU is Not a company, is Not a foundation, is Not an organization that reports revenue, incomes, taxes, etc. TPU is a group of geographically separated individuals and many of us do Not know who these individuals are ( just take a look at Contact Us webpage ). TPU makes money from donations, possibly webpage clicks and that is why it spreads all these rumours.

I'm Not against of TPU and as a professional I really like the website since it is one of my sources of information on GPU technologies. I hope that an Editor-In-Chief of TPU will take actions and rumours should Not be spread.

Hey, TPU team, thank you for your work and I like the TPU website anyway.

 

[Frick]

Angry much? Whatever. It's ok, not everyone can get it.

I just wish you'd say why the idea that Apple would be allowed to buy Intel is ridiculous.

 

[RimbowFish]

apple or Qualcomm are pretty possible

 

[Kapone33]

The US government will never let a company from an other country to buy a strategically important company such as Intel.
Even if they doing so bad at this time.
Apple it is. if it comes down to this two.

With Samsung you never know. South Korea is one of the only Countries in the World that can sell whatever they make to the US.

 

[R0H1T]

Those sales were all before the Ukraine war started, which caused the US government to remember that allowing foreign companies to own your nation's core industries is a bad idea.

And none of that matters as long as you're having the right lobbyists in the right place! Can we stop pretending that the US (govt) isn't massively influenced by large businesses & of course, the MIC?

that Intel must hold makes whatever price they ask completely worth it, especially to a company as large as Apple.

Remember QC & Nuvia? At the very least there could be renegotiation of the x86/x64 cross licensing agreement with AMD, & at worst, there could be breach of contract/Intel losing patent ownership for some (many?) of them! Intel is like that Pandora's box, which is potentially worth so much more & yet equally as potent an explosive

 

[95Viper]

Stop your political rantings unless it has a direct bearing on the topic. today.
We do not need to bring past history of wars and nonsense into the discussion or current political beliefs of individuals.

Stick to the topic!

 

[lexluthermiester]

I just wish you'd say why the idea that Apple would be allowed to buy Intel is ridiculous.

I did. You seem to have missed it.

 

[FoulOnWhite]

5 pages of nonsense on a nonsense topic, not gonna happen, accept it.

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

They let an obscure Chinese OEM buy out IBM's PC division (now Lenovo). They let Toshiba buy out Westinghouse Nuclear (holds a ton of nuclear power generation IP). They let Korean Hyundai Motors buy out Boston Dynamics (arguably the most advanced robotics company in the world). They let Lenovo buy out Motorola Mobility, they let GlobalFoundries go to UAE-based Mubdala, Seagate is owned by a Singaporean holding company, and heck, the Chicago Stock Exchange is owned by a Chinese PE firm.

There are just many examples of American companies of strategic value being bought out by foreign entities.

So...my question to you is what were the alternatives?

IBM had largely been relegated to the past tense with PowerPC...so when it was sold the thought process was x86-64 was still supported with software by Microsoft and Hardware with Intel and AMD.
Toshiba is a Japanese company. Individual contractors in the nuclear field still exist, and with Japan nearly being a protectorate of the US (at the time) it was reasonable to have their ownership.
Hyundai and South Korea...same story as Japan. Additionally, DARPA could farm out stuff to anyone with a reasonable security clearance.
Lenovo buying out Motorola was...well, let's reasonably chalk that up as wanting cheap hardware from a country that could provide labor at rock bottom prices, with the assumption that their highest technology wasn't being manufactured in China...
The UAE...a country with oil...buying out Seagate...who have plenty of research facilities in the US and lots of bi-lateral agreements for that sweet sweet black gold.

Why is Intel different? Well...night vision goggles, missile control systems, computers, and about a dozen other things need Intel chips. AMD may compete...but mil-spec is a bother to get. Ironically, this is about the strategic needs unlike any of the other stuff. If you go through the above list, the concerns are primarily about having a competing option. There is none for Intel. There's no way to contract out their services, and no friendly country wants to pony up that sort of money.

Of course the two companies that are cited are US based...but the problem with that is that neither of them want the headache of more regulation being up in their business...because an inquiry into Intel branching out into the mobile chip space would be allowing too much discretionary observation of confidential information, but the US would presumably make this a stipulation of any agreed upon purchase.


This is also why an Intel buy-out would be little more than rumors. It'd come with a mile long list of requirements from the FTC, Military, and a dozen other governmental bodies. It'd make anyone wanting to own them have to jump through a thousand regulations to make any changes...and once they did they'd have to find some way to make things profitable. It's infinitely more feasible that Intel would be allowed to shed non-core businesses, and trim management, because based upon reporting they already have shed factory workers. That would be shrinking R&D, losing the GPU division, and removing the investor dividends (which they've already done). Intel's value on the stock market isn't a thing for the government of the US to concern itself with...and their directorship isn't likely to take any responsibility for the last decade of stagnant progress combined with huge amounts of money leaving the company as a one-two punch for executives paid in stock options to get a large chunk of money without it being apparent that their salaries were increasing...while their factory workers bumbled through miserable conditions where their processes sucked. I say they suck because of the yields reported...not as a judgement of anything else.

 

[Calmmo]

Too much attention for "News" based on a report from a known fake rumor youtuber

 

[Prima.Vera]

If Nippon Steel's acquisition of US Steel goes forward, then anything is possible for Intel.
It seems that moneys talk more than the National interests.

 

[Caring1]

. Period.

The irony of writing period, between two of them.

 

[L1on]

the market for high tech >>> doesnt have mercy and move quickly >>> nvd - amd - qul -tsmc - sam - and some good small player from china

intel lose the advantage in every thing
is so hard to come back now

The Taiwanese own this tech

 

[lexluthermiester]

the market for high tech >>> doesnt have mercy and move quickly >>> nvd - amd - qul -tsmc - sam - and some good small player from china

intel lose the advantage in every thing
is so hard to come back now

The Taiwanese own this tech

Not a good showing for a first post. That statement has some serious flaws.

Still welcome to TPU.

 

[L1on]

Not a good showing for a first post. That statement has some serious flaws.

Still welcome to TPU.

Tell me why ?

 

[Frick]

I did. You seem to have missed it.

"antitrust" sure, but why is it antitrust?

 

[TechLurker]

I could see interest in trying to get Intel to spin off the fabs completely and sell those separately, along with related IP and licenses. Those would sell, while Intel still keeps the rest of its chip IP and still leaving majority control over x86-64 within the US domain. Moreso with the recent x86 group meant to fend off Arm and RISC-V.

Samsung would definitely want those to get a foothold stateside and put some CHIPS funds towards upgrading one, or resetting their own R&D efforts using Intel IP to try and give them an edge against TSMC and the slow but progressing Japanese rivals. Apple might want to fully own their own fabs, and they can afford to invest a lot of money into R&D for the bleeding edge, even if it's a money loser at the start. There's also the possible twist of Japanese companies aiming to buy into Intel's Fabs if those were put up; it would give them access to the EUV license that the US denied them decades ago and allow them to catch-up.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

RISC-V, FTW! Especially if ARM is going to be extremely restricted!

 

[lexluthermiester]

Tell me why ?

For a start, because it's blatantly false. Taiwan is important to the world, sure, but if it dropped into the ocean, the world would not grind to a halt, we would shift things around and carry on.

"antitrust" sure, but why is it antitrust?

Are you kidding? I'm not typing out a college essay on the subject. Go read up on the subject, then take a closer look at the three companies involved in this laughable rumor and let it sink in. I don't mean to seem condescending with this remark. Antitrust is VERY complicated and not easy to explain. When you understand it, it's easy to see how ridiculous some rumors are. Then there are things that actually happened and only did some because of companies squeaking by, like the Activision/microsoft deal. That wasn't lawful by the definitions of the code of law. Intel is too big to be bought out by other large companies.

 

[L1on]

For a start, because it's blatantly false. Taiwan is important to the world, sure, but if it dropped into the ocean, the world would not grind to a halt, we would shift things around and carry on.

I dont mean this ever , just some idiots thinking like that > there is no country we cant give it up >> I mean the businessman from taiwanese now have some steps than another

Anything special has a substitute.

 

[eveluvsrainbows]

Are you kidding? I'm not typing out a college essay on the subject. Go read up on the subject, then take a closer look at the three companies involved in this laughable rumor and let it sink in. I don't mean to seem condescending with this remark. Antitrust is VERY complicated and not easy to explain. When you understand it, it's easy to see how ridiculous some rumors are. Then there are things that actually happened and only did some because of companies squeaking by, like the Activision/microsoft deal. That wasn't lawful by the definitions of the code of law. Intel is too big to be bought out by other large companies.

Intel made $50 billion in revenue last year. Their market cap is $100 billion. Apple's is $3.4 trillion and makes nearly $400 billion in revenue a year. Even AMD's market cap is significantly larger than Intel's. Saying Intel is too big to be acquired is straight up completely false and defies literally all financial indicators that would make Intel a big company. They aren't. At least not anymore. There's a smaller chance of AMD being acquired than Intel at this point. Maybe actually back up your claims with evidence and facts instead of posting misinformation? Anyways at the end of the day this is all hypothetical, but if Intel were to be acquired, it definitely is not impossible by any stretch.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

I don't know if I can forgive Nvidia, if they buy Intel and kill Arc. I still remember words that I got about what Nvidia did to 3DFX!

 

[lexluthermiester]

Intel made $50 billion in revenue last year. Their market cap is $100 billion. Apple's is $3.4 trillion and makes nearly $400 billion in revenue a year. Even AMD's market cap is significantly larger than Intel's. Saying Intel is too big to be acquired is straight up completely false and defies literally all financial indicators that would make Intel a big company. They aren't. At least not anymore. There's a smaller chance of AMD being acquired than Intel at this point. Maybe actually back up your claims with evidence and facts instead of posting misinformation? Anyways at the end of the day this is all hypothetical, but if Intel were to be acquired, it definitely is not impossible by any stretch.

Once again, your failure at context. Just stop.