Intel (INTC.US) announced new developments in the foundry business at the Intel Foundry Direct Connect conference held on Wednesday.
The Zhitong Finance App learned that Intel (INTC.US)'s foundry event Intel Foundry Direct Connect conference held on Wednesday emphasized the new partnership with Microsoft (MSFT.US) and progress related to artificial intelligence. However, analysts said that despite these advances, Intel still lags far behind TSM.US, the largest company in this field.
Bank of America analysts led by Brad Lin (Brad Lin) wrote in an investor note: “As Intel actively develops the OEM business, it may not be surprising that there will be more customer or supplier partnerships in the future, but we believe execution, scale, and yield are still the key to OEM competition.”
At this conference, Intel also announced that it will launch 14A in 2027 and insisted that its roadmap to launch five nodes within four years is on track. Although Intel has established new partnerships [including collaboration with Arm (ARM.US) on system chips] and has new advanced system assembly and testing capabilities, there is still a lot of work to be done.
Bank of America analysts added, “We expect TSMC to continue to lead Intel thanks to its technological leadership, better cost structure, and optimal business model.” Bank of America still maintains a “buy” rating for TSMC.
In addition to Microsoft's statement, Intel also mentioned Broadcom (AVGO.US) and MediaTek as customers of its foundry business.
As CEO Pat Gelsinger (Pat Gelsinger) tried to reverse Intel's fortunes, this nascent division has been the target of a strong push, and the division's revenue in the most recent quarter was $291 million. By comparison, TSMC's revenue for the same period was $19.62 billion.
Compared to Bank of America's views, Cantor Fitzgerald (Cantor Fitzgerald) was more optimistic about this press conference. Analyst C.J. Muse believes that although there is more work to be done, this press conference highlights Intel's “real talent as a potential foundry.”
Muse added that GFS.US (GFS.US) is likely to be Intel's “potential strategic partner,” although the company's recent partnerships with United Electronics (UMC.US) and Tower Semiconductor (TSEM.US) have reduced this possibility. Additionally, Muse reaffirmed Intel's “neutral” rating and a target price of $50.