Joe, some comments on the (nice) Barron's article:
Barron's: If the rollout of broadband access to the American home comes slower than expected, demand for
Intel-powered servers and networking devices may not prove strong enough to make up for the slowdown in the
company's revenue growth from the PC market.
DSL installations are projected to grow from tens of thousands now to millions by 2003. The phone companies just got mandated to share their copper lines to homes with DSL providers. This is already bringing DSL prices down. Also, companies are opting for DSL because of its lower cost. I think the bandwidth problem is on its way to being solved, although it is seeming to take forever.
S&P : While we don't believe Intel will dominate these[ new sectors] to the extent it does the microprocessor market,
we do believe Intel will prove a meaningful competitor and that even 10% share of these fast-growing markets should
prove profitable.
My comment - never wondered how Palm (10% of 3com revenues) has been able to boost a crap stock from the low
twenties to the mid-forties ? - End of my comment -
The new markets are still considerably less than 10% of Intel's revenues. Also, It'll take a while for the new business to be associated with Intel. It took the hand-held, wireless craze to wake up the world re 3COM and Palm.
Barron's: What if, for example, the competition for server chips from the likes of Sun, HewlettPackard and IBM proves
fiercer than expected?
Of course, the HP chips will be Intel. Sun doesn't push any envelopes in chip performance, still at 450 MHz or so max. IBM? OK, they push (but do they ever sell?).
Tony |
