Intel’s stock surged Friday on a news report it might sell off its foundry business, among other strategic options to reverse declines.
By mid-day Friday, Intel’s stock jumped 7.6% to $21.66. For all of 2024, the share price has dropped 55%, however.
Bloomberg quoted unnamed sources familiar with the matter who said the company is working with advisors including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs on possibly splitting the foundry business from its product-design business or possibly scrapping some factory projects. A potential merger & acquisition has also been considered.
The various options will go to an Intel board for consideration in September, according to the report.
A spokesperson told Fierce Electronics that Intel had no comment on the report.
The report comes after Intel announced layoffs of 15% of its workforce on Aug. 1, affecting about 15,000 workers. Since that time, investors and analysts have discussed what has led to the changes, including the losses in bringing Intel’s foundry business up to speed.
CEO Pat Gelsinger hatched the foundry concept after joining as CEO in February 2021. He has hoped to build a business that makes chips for Intel designs as well as those of competitors, but analysts have been concerned about a shortage of flagship customers.
Intel recently said the foundry is not expected to yield profits to the larger company until 2028 after suffering a $7 billion operating loss in 2023. In the meantime, Intel faces two or more years of a “near-death experience,” SemiAnalysis analyst Jeff Koch recently told Fierce Electronics. And Mario Morales, group vice president of enabling tech and semiconductors at IDC, said employees have been left not knowing what to do—“like deer caught in the headlights.”
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Intel has won more than $8 billion in a preliminary grant under the US CHIPS Act to help fund billions in new fabs in Arizona and Ohio. If Intel decides to pare back on any fab projects, it would possibly have to negotiate with officials in the CHIPS program over that grants funding, but some analysts said recently the world’s supply of advanced chips needs Intel. The world’s other large fabs, TSMC and Samsung, don’t have the capacity “to support a total Intel meltdown,” said Patrick Moorhead, chief analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy.
Intel would probably have to cancel the fab build outs for the US government to take back its preliminary grant offer, speculated Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates. He noted that the state governments have also offered grants. “Intel has problems, but I don’t think the money they are expecting is at risk,” he said.
Since the layoffs were announced, “it’s been a difficult few weeks,” Gelsinger told investors at the Deutsche Bank Technology Conference on Thursday. “Obviously the market didn’t respond positively. We understand that.”