Intel Leads Unexpectedly Large Decline in Semiconductor Market Inventory

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Homeles

Platinum Member
Dec 9, 2011
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Ever heard of Sperry-Univac?
Haven't heard of them, but there appears to be nothing interesting there. They were bought out. That doesn't mean they were unsuccessful.
How about DEC?
I said "on the level of Intel." Intel's the market leader (and by a huge margin)... DEC was not.
I wasn't trying to suggest that it does. Merely that if everything else were ideal, that would be the best way to do it. Inventory must be had because everything isn't ideal. However, minimizing that inventory, while still meeting demand is what you *want* to do and not a bad thing. That was the point I was trying (and failing) to make.
I understood what you were saying.
 
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blackened23

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2011
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Even Haswell cant do anything for them, despite the stock market fanboys cheering for it.

That's quite an articulate explanation there, it's not like Haswell is going to end up in every macbook air, macbook pro, imac, desktop and ultrabook on the planet in the 2nd half of 2013. Not to mention enthusiast desktop sales which is still a very robust market that hasn't experienced economic slowdown. Nah, that won't happen at all, intel is done fellas.
 
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Torn Mind

Lifer
Nov 25, 2012
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Even Haswell cant do anything for them, despite the stock market fanboys cheering for it.

It takes many to influence a market. Too bad stock market traders have better stocks to examine then Intel's stock, which has been rather shoddy ever since the tech bubble burst and won't change anytime soon. Everyone should invest in Exxon. Now that's a stock that is in good shape.
 

Torn Mind

Lifer
Nov 25, 2012
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That's quite an articulate explanation there, it's not like Haswell is going to end up in every macbook air, macbook pro, imac, desktop and ultrabook on the planet in the 2nd half of 2013. Not to mention enthusiast desktop sales which is still a very robust market that hasn't experienced economic slowdown. Nah, that won't happen at all, intel is done fellas.

It doesn't matter. Intel has dominated the processor marketplace but its stock price has been stuck in neutral for 10+ years. As a stock, it's laughable.
 

Ajay

Lifer
Jan 8, 2001
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blackened23

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2011
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It doesn't matter. Intel has dominated the processor marketplace but its stock price has been stuck in neutral for 10+ years. As a stock, it's laughable.

Yeah. I don't really care about this when I purchase a product though, do you?

I don't look up stocks prior to purchasing a video card or CPU. Investments are the last thing on my mind. Besides which, the OP stated that intel would massively fail with Haswell, I would strongly contest this. With the efficiency improvements of Haswell I certainly think it will be a massive hit - imagine ultrabooks and macbooks with 10 hours of battery life? That excites me greatly. I don't care at all about stock value when making a purchase, do you?

Haswell and Broadwell will also put intel in a great position to compete in the ultra mobile market - efficiency is holding them back currently. Once they're on even ground (and I do believe this WILL happen in 2014) they will likely be in a lot of premium tablet products IMO.
 

Torn Mind

Lifer
Nov 25, 2012
12,046
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Yeah. I don't really care about this when I purchase a product though, do you?

I don't look up stocks prior to purchasing a video card or CPU. Investments are the last thing on my mind. Besides which, the OP stated that intel would massively fail with Haswell, I would strongly contest this. With the efficiency improvements of Haswell I certainly think it will be a massive hit - imagine ultrabooks and macbooks with 10 hours of battery life? That excites me greatly. I don't care at all about stock value when making a purchase, do you?

Haswell and Broadwell will also put intel in a great position to compete in the ultra mobile market - efficiency is holding them back currently. Once they're on even ground (and I do believe this WILL happen in 2014) they will likely be in a lot of premium tablet products IMO.
Don't get me wrong, I believe Haswell will have a major impact, if at the very least, the IPC gains will make those Ultrabooks truly good enough instead of just a overpriced novelty item suitable for light usage. But I strongly doubt its stock price will change much.

But grimpr thinks people who buy Intel also care about its stock price, when it hasn't been the case. Most people don't even know the basics of trading stocks.
 

Wall Street

Senior member
Mar 28, 2012
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As a financial analyst, one thing to keep in mind in mind is that ending the 4th quarter with lower inventory than the third quarter is pretty much expected. Afterall, one of those dates in 5 days after Christmas (4Q12 ended 12/31/13) and the other is not - you should have low inventory after Christmas. Year over year, which removes this seasonality, Intel inventories were actually up $638MM so their unusually low inventory story doesn't seem to validate itself with year over year numbers from Intel. AMD also increased inventory year over year.
 

Idontcare

Elite Member
Oct 10, 1999
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I wasn't trying to suggest that it does. Merely that if everything else were ideal, that would be the best way to do it. Inventory must be had because everything isn't ideal. However, minimizing that inventory, while still meeting demand is what you *want* to do and not a bad thing. That was the point I was trying (and failing) to make.

Oh don't get me wrong, I am a fan of JiT manufacturing too. Was just trying to frame the impact of that type of approach within the context of the inventory adjustment this specific "story" was trying to speak to.

In college I worked at a Burger King. We'd flame-broil those whopper patties and toast the buns only to then shove them into a "warmer oven" which was basically a steam bath. It made the buns soggy. It also meant we had to microwave the burgers again for 10seconds or so before using them to build out the burger.

I hated that kind of inventory management. I was a huge fan of whoppers at the time, it was why I decided to get a job at burger king instead of McDonalds at the time. But I couldn't believe the piss-poor quality control.

If you could get yourself a truly JiT broiled whopper then the flavor was off the hook, but those warmer-oven whoppers just sucked, bad. The best time to get a JiT whopper was during lunch rush. Don't go when it is slow, they stick those whoppers in the warmer ovens.

Mind you this was some 20yrs ago, things might have changed since then, or gotten worse...BK ain't exactly Fuddruckers or Red Robin :p ;)