This year, Intel is being affected by an ever-aggressive AMD, a roadmap that continues to have glitches and, most importantly, a slowdown in the PC food chain that has started to show signs of exhaustion after 14 months of robust growth.
The most reassuring thing is they are seeing very strong demand,
Consumer oriented chip companies are seeing more strength now. The rest of tech is still pretty weak,
It's not a surprise at all ... we are picking up end- demand softness since early January and inventory build and I think this is consistent with that. Intel's in troubled waters for a couple of quarters.
Intel's gross margins tie into the chip cycle. When the cycle starts to peak, margins at Intel peak.
Intel's financial position and status as the semiconductor bellwether may be in jeopardy if it fails to find strategic opportunities in other faster growing markets such as communications and consumer electronics.
I don't think this is market share (loss) but some inflection in demand for PCs. This will worry people, Intel is the canary in the coalmine, when it sees weakness it's a warning for the rest of the sector.