Has Intel Missed A Huge Window Of Opportunity?

Chinese Competition

Intel’s ability to obtain a foothold in these areas may have fallen short of expectations, and the company’s monopoly on FINFET will likely end in 2015.

According to Morgan Stanley analyst Bill Lu, Chinese competitor Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd TSM is expected to have its own FINFET technology operational in early 2015. “We expect TSMC will make significant strides with its 16 nm FINFET technology, which should see first production in 1Q15 with the original FINFET technology, and we also believe a second version called 16 plus is seeing better yield ramp and could hit volume earlier than expected.”

What Does It Mean For Intel Stock?

Analysts believe that significant success in new markets is already priced into Intel’s stock.

While they maintain that Intel certainly has the potential to gain market share in the foundry business, it will only do so if it can produce superior products to its rivals. Likewise, if Intel wants to significantly penetrate the smartphone market, it will have to produce better products than Qualcomm Inc.

If Intel can’t take advantage of the last remaining opening in its FINFET exclusivity window to accomplish either of these goals, analysts see it as a missed opportunity for the company.