Intel is having a very bad time

(Image credit: Intel)

Premier CPU manufacturer Intel had a bad 2022 that ended on one of its worst quarters since the apocalyptic days of dot-com collapse of 2000. Industry analysts already unhappy with Intel's financial performance are now saying that 2023 could be just as hard for the company. The company's bad end of 2022 and low projections on its 2023 earnings have knocked $8 billion off of the company's market value.

To be pat: Intel is having one of those years where the red line on the money chart is going down very steeply.

"No words can portray or explain the historic collapse of Intel," analyst Hans Mosesmann told US News.

Why has it happened? As the man said, it's complex, but the current downturn in the market for PCs is a big reason. That has led to a massive overstock of chips, and Intel's customers aren't going to buy too much new until they sell those. Intel's CEO is now saying that the PC market will sell almost 100 million fewer computers than he predicted it would.

Intel's multi-year downturn also comes alongside the rise of a massive rival outside the space gamers think of, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or TSMC, now manufactures about as many chips as intel does. As AMD and Nvidia have taken shares of Intel's market in other sectors, TSMC has also risen to compete in the manufacturing sector.

Still, there is a chance that Intel will do better than expected. Some analysts say just that, even as Intel's CEO Patrick Gelsinger admits the company has underperformed and lost important market share to AMD. The source of this strong Intel? Gelsinger is still referring to the company's plan to deliver ever-improved chip technology, and has reiterated their commitment to "five nodes in four years" and the release of Meteor Lake processors in the second half of 2023.

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.