Intel’s Latest Chips Aim to Revitalize Market Presence
Intel (INTC) made headlines on Tuesday as it unveiled its newest processors, targeting a larger slice of the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence (AI) data center market, aiming to challenge its competitors.
At the Computex trade fair in Taipei, Intel introduced the Xeon 6 data center chips, showcasing advancements designed to meet the demands of modern AI infrastructure. These next-generation chips offer two variants: a high-performance processor tailored for extensive AI workloads and an efficiency model positioned as a replacement for older chips.
According to reports from Reuters, Intel emphasized the efficiency of its chips, noting a 67% reduction in server racks required, making them ideal for tasks such as website hosting, media streaming, and database operations. “Simply put, performance up, power down,” remarked Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger during the event.
While the efficiency chip is available immediately, Intel stated that the higher-powered processor will ship in the third quarter of this year. Additionally, the company plans to introduce further iterations of the chips by 2025.
In a bid to offer competitive pricing, Intel disclosed that its Gaudi 3 accelerator kit, housing eight Xeon 6 chips, would be priced around $125,000. This significantly undercuts Nvidia’s (NVDA) comparable HGX server system, which can cost over $300,000, as reported by custom server vendor Thinkmate.
However, Intel faces the challenge of reclaiming lost market share due to manufacturing hurdles encountered over the past year. Analysts project modest sales growth of 2.8% for Intel this year, while Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) are expected to witness substantial sales increases of 97.5% and 12.6%, respectively.
From a technical perspective, Intel’s stock has faced downward pressure, breaching key support levels. The recent consolidation within a pennant pattern suggests a continuation of the downtrend. Investors are advised to watch for potential downside moves, particularly observing the reaction around the late February low of $24.73. A failure to hold this level might lead to further declines, potentially testing significant support around $19.50.
