Currently, Nvidia’s value has exceeded $3 trillion.
As reported by New York Times in 2005, former Intel CEO Paul Otellini proposed to the board to acquire Nvidia for $20 billion — the deal could have been the most expensive in Intel’s history, but the board had concerns about the integration of the company and potential loss of money.
Eventually, Otellini backed out and the board directed the funds to support the internal graphics project Larabee, which was led by Pat Gelsinger (now Intel’s boss). The project used Intel x86 technology, and the GPU was a kind of hybrid of CPU and GPU — it was eventually discontinued, although they returned to the idea with the Xe and Arc projects.
In 2016 and 2019, Intel acquired Nervana Systems and Movidius and Habana Labs, respectively, to focus on artificial intelligence — but none of them could cope with Nvidia’s current position. Currently, the company run by Jensen Huang is a market leader with a capitalization of more than $3 trillion. Intel has the Gaudi 3 AI chip, which is positioned as a cheaper alternative to Nvidia’s offerings, but it looks like Intel is hopelessly late to the AI boat.
At the same time, this is not the only time Intel has missed an opportunity in AI: in 2017 and 2018, the company had the opportunity to acquire a stake in the then-tiny OpenAI, but then-CEO Bob Swan turned down the deal, suggesting that AI models were far from reaching a wide audience.
Now, the situation has turned for Intel in such a way that the company itself may become a target for acquisition (at least, there are rumors of a takeover by Qualcomm).
The company is experiencing one of the biggest crises in its 50-year history, forcing it to announce layoffs of thousands of employees and suspend dividend payments as part of cost-saving measures. In September, Intel announced that plans to separate chip production and design departments, as well as suspend the construction of some plants.
For comparison, back in 2020, Intel’s market value reached $290 billion, and this year the company’s shares fell by a disastrous 60%.