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Intel to Cut 12,000 Jobs, Forecast Misses Amid PC Blight

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Re: Intel to Cut 12,000 Jobs, Forecast Misses Amid PC Blight

#131
post #39

So Intel is cutting 11% of its workforce, Goldman Sachs just reported a 56% drop in profits, Morgan Stanley had a 50% drop in profits, Netflix missed subscriber growth estimates etc... yet, the Dow just hit a 9-Month high, and the S&P500 is now above 2100. The whole market is overvalued, not just the tech unicorns.

Spot on!

Re: Intel to Cut 12,000 Jobs, Forecast Misses Amid PC Blight

#133
post #97
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly it. The same performance isn't (that much) cheaper, and it's actually difficult to find any sort of high performance laptop (for cheep). Plus, the last few laptops I've purchased all seem to die JUST after the warranties (extended or otherwise) expire. Are they finally at least putting 1080p+ screens on these as a standard thing, or is everyone still stick on that crummy 1366x768 regression?

Much to my boss' disappointment, it's almost impossible to find a 1366x768 laptop, or more generally, one that isn't 1080p.

If you are in the United States, check Sam's Club. I was just there a couple days ago and they had several 1366x768 laptops--made by HP, if I recall correctly.

Re: Intel to Cut 12,000 Jobs, Forecast Misses Amid PC Blight

#134
post #19

I wonder if this is related at all to the Altera acquisition, and how many of those employees will be affected. Intel had to give up a lot of cash, and take on quite a few redundant employees…

Didn't they acquire McAfee too ? How did it ever make sense for an hardware company ?

Since when did Acquiring McAfee ever make sense for anybody?

Re: Intel to Cut 12,000 Jobs, Forecast Misses Amid PC Blight

#135

This is what the end of Moore's Law looks like. * Tick-tock is dead. * 10 nm is severely delayed. * EUV is severely delayed. * Significant layoffs in R&D * The ITRS roadmap is vaguer than it's ever been. * Giant mergers are up (Intel+Altera, KLA+Lam, etc.), concentrating the industry more than ever. * And ultimately: A 5-year-old PC still works just fine. When I say this is the end of Moore's Law, I'm not trying to b…

Interesting point. If we are witnessing the end, would we recognize it at the time? Moore's Law has been something we've become accustomed to, so it almost seems hard to believe that it will end even if we are told that it will.

Makes me wonder what research money will be spent on instead of just faster chips.

Re: Intel to Cut 12,000 Jobs, Forecast Misses Amid PC Blight

#136
post #58
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is odd, because they also reported an 18% increase in profits.

quote from zerohedge: Instead of using the same tax rate as a year ago, when it had an effective tax rate of 25.5%, this quarter the tax rate was down 7.1% to just 18.4%. Had INTC used the historical tax rate, it would have, surprise, missed. Worse, INTC just cut its outlook, predicting revenue of $13.5 billion, plus or minus $500 million, for the Q2, about $700MM below consensus estimates.

So Intel is dodging taxes as well now?

Re: Intel to Cut 12,000 Jobs, Forecast Misses Amid PC Blight

#137
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they can't sell computers in the digital age where software has taken over everything, you can think whatever you want but that does reflect poorly on the economy. Yes, many factors are at play. It is still a terrible sign.

Given the growth in trends such as ARM for mobile devices and dynamic resource allocation on the cloud, I still don't think you can make that broad a statement.

Can you make the statement that the economy had nothing to do with it? A business' success or failure is reliant on the economy on a fundamental level. I imagine if college graduates weren't struggling to find jobs and pay off their massive student debts they would have sold more computers, despite the trends working against them.

Re: Intel to Cut 12,000 Jobs, Forecast Misses Amid PC Blight

#138

I'm not sure how much of an effect this would have, but from a consumer's point of view, there isn't as much of a reason to buy a new PC every few years anymore. The laptop I'm using right now was purchased in 2011, and the prices in stores now are very comparable to what I paid back then. I've made up my mind to buy a new one a few times, but then when I go to the store, it just isn't worth it.

Moore's law may become irrelevant long before it becomes invalid. Without rapid increases in usable computing power, the reasons for upgrading have largely disappeared. In particular the chips at the top of the profit margin curve, where Intel loves to play, are much less compelling.

Intel might eventually find itself in the same shoes Kodak did - when your primary business dries up, there's unlikely to be a follow-on that is successful enough to keep the company going.

Re: Intel to Cut 12,000 Jobs, Forecast Misses Amid PC Blight

#139
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you pick and choose stocks, you can tell any story you want. Intel cutting its workforce is more of a reflection on the state of the PC market rather than the US economy as a whole. I'm not saying the market is overvalued or not, but this is in no way indicative of that.

^ To add to this I'd lay say the over-valuation(s) are a side-effect of our monetary policy being in never-ending "stimulus" mode. On Intel I think the "everything is going mobile" is PR for investors, the PC market doesn't have any foreseeable growth potential atm.

The stimuls mode is a permanent regime now. It's good in the short term, but I do not know if anybody understood mid- and long-term consequences of this new permanent mode.

Re: Intel to Cut 12,000 Jobs, Forecast Misses Amid PC Blight

#140
post #122
post #39

So Intel is cutting 11% of its workforce, Goldman Sachs just reported a 56% drop in profits, Morgan Stanley had a 50% drop in profits, Netflix missed subscriber growth estimates etc... yet, the Dow just hit a 9-Month high, and the S&P500 is now above 2100. The whole market is overvalued, not just the tech unicorns.

To be pedantic: the market is perfectly valued at every moment. Of course market prices will change, sometimes very quickly. BTW, this is a great site for tracking S&P ratios: http://www.multpl.com/

The efficient market hypothesis (the idea that the market is by definition perfectly valued at every moment) is highly controversial, and actively rejected by many finance and economics experts of all political views.
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