Intel had a nice, boring quarter on paper.
Of course, the actual quarter was anything but boring!
After the earnings call, my high-level takeaway was that Lip Bu hit a single. Singles are good. They put runners in position to score. (Apologies. World Series on the mind.)
What else stood out? LBT’s 14A gambit worked!
Yet it’s not all sunshine and roses for Intel.
The widely quoted line “current demand is outpacing supply” line from the press release is missing an important word.
It should have read “current demand is outpacing supply mix”. That single word changes the outlook. Raptor Lake is not Core Ultra.
Lastly, I’m still frustrated with the industry’s fixation on AI PCs. The vision is right, the timing is wrong. And it keeps hampering Intel.
That said, net-net it’s a solid single and another data point in favor of the executive-in-chief.
Now, into the nuance—the fun part. This gets long.