Recently, the news that Qualcomm may acquire Intel has spread all over the Internet. Although this news has not been confirmed, we can also understand from the rumors that Intel is not as glorious as before.
In the latest quarter (the second quarter of fiscal year 2024), revenue was US$12.8 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 1%, and a loss of US$1.6 billion. Net profit in the same period last year was US$1.5 billion, a year-on-year change from profit to loss. Non-GAAP net profit was US$100 million, compared with US$500 million in the same period last year, a year-on-year decrease of 85%.
From a technical perspective, although high-performance CPUs are still an important force that cannot be ignored, Intel is often criticized for its research and development in a toothpaste-squeezing manner and its manufacturing process lagging behind TSMC in terms of technological innovation. Among them, Apple's abandonment of Intel chips has a significant impact on Apple and the adoption of ARM-designed chips. You know, Apple does not have many product lines, and it is relatively cautious about replacing major suppliers.
At the same time, after Apple abandoned Intel's adoption of ARM to design computer chips, it had a far-reaching impact on the industry chain. Other brands will increase their efforts on the ARM architecture, which will invisibly bring competitive pressure to Intel.
In the field of traditional CPUs, it not only faces huge pressure from ARM, AMD, Qualcomm, etc. Especially in the era of artificial intelligence, Intel is even more powerless.
Facing huge pressure from Nvidia, AMD, Qualcomm, etc. in the chip market, Intel is struggling to increase efficiency through layoffs. Intel announced a $10 billion cost-cutting plan to improve efficiency and market competitiveness. This includes reducing the number of people by more than 15%. As of June 29, 2024, Intel has 116,500 employees (excluding some subsidiaries), which means that at least 17,500 people will be affected.
Current news says that Qualcomm has contacted the company about the acquisition. It is worth noting that the deal is far from certain, and there will be resistance such as antitrust, because the deal between Qualcomm and Intel has a huge impact on the competition in the global chip market. If any regulatory agency in any country or region vetoes it, the merger and acquisition will fail. At the same time, Qualcomm does not have that much cash, after all, Intel's market value exceeds US$90 billion. However, if the deal is reached, it will be the largest technology merger and acquisition case in history.