By akademiotoelektronik, 17/07/2022

Intel, carried by the request for the fleas, finished 2021 with records

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"2021 was dominated by an unprecedented request and by the difficulties of the supply chain," summed up Pat Gelsinger, the boss of the American group, at a conference for analysts.

It expects demand also to remain sustained and leads to an "era of sustainable growth", thanks to "generalized computerization", with artificial intelligence, "connectivity" of all objects, "computer scienceAmbient "and the construction of infrastructure that makes it possible to process data between servers and various sensors, without going through computers or smartphones.

The company raised $ 79 billion in revenue over the year, above its forecasts (77.7 billion).From October to December, it garnered $ 20.5 billion (+3% over one year), but its net profit plunged from 21% to 4.6 billion.

The extreme demand for semiconductors, linked to both the digital transition and to new habits taken during the pandemic, combined with production delays because of the COVID, led to a global shortage.

It affects many sectors, because fleas is essential for the manufacture of many products, smartphones and computers, cars and vacuum cleaners.

Fleas on the edge of exhaustion

Pat Gelsinger repeated that this crisis was going to continue until 2023, even if it sees improvements over this period.

Intel has heavily invested last year in the production of semiconductors in the United States and Europe, with a strategy presented in March which is based both on the development of internal manufacturing and the increased appeal to sub-subTraitors.

"The problem for the group is that the agreement with the United States for the construction of a mega factory is very expensive, and that they will not harvest the profits before 2025," noted theIndependent analyst Rob Enderle.

The Biden Administration exhorted Congress on Tuesday to adopt a law aimed at helping the United States of essential products such as semiconductors in the United States, stressing that manufacturers had seen their reserves melt at a worrying level.

Such a law would be providential for Intel, but political negotiations are skating."The adoption of the text will be difficult for an electoral year, while the two American parties are at war against each other," added Rob Enderle.

Pat Gelsinger nevertheless showed optimistic about his chances of success, especially since Washington sounded the alarm.

The Commerce Department conducted an industrial survey including car manufacturers and manufacturers of medical aircraft, showing that the median inventory had gone from 40 days of stock in 2019 to less than 5 days in 2021.

"If a wave of covid, a natural disaster or political instability were to disrupt a foreign factory of semiconductors if only a few weeks, it could lead to closing a manufacturing plant in the United States, endangeringAmerican workers and their families, "the ministry said in a statement.

Autonomous driving

In the last quarter, the group of Intel micro-processors, the largest in the group, won $ 10.1 billion in income, 7% less than a year ago.A drop that the group explained by an unfavorable comparison with the last quarter of 2020, where sales had been record thanks to the pandemic.

The activity of electronic equipment for data centers has increased by 20% to $ 7.3 billion.

And Mobileye, its Israeli subsidiary specializing in autonomous driving technologies, reported $ 356 million (+7%).Intel announced in December that it intended to bring it to Wall Street in mid-2022.

The microprocessor manufacturer has also delighted a court decision of the European Union, which annulled on Wednesday a fine of 1.06 billion euros pronounced in 2009 by the European Commission against Intel for abuse of positiondominant.

© 2022 AFP