Former Intel CEO on Nvidia: You have to be 10x better to dethrone the king
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Now that Pat Gelsinger is no longer occupying the corner office at embattled chipmaker Intel (INTC), he can acknowledge one thing about the semiconductor industry.
Nvidia (NVDA) has a wide, wide lead over its rivals on the tech front.
The former Intel CEO told me on Yahoo Finance’s Opening Bid podcast (video above; listen in below)
You see, they are executing well … At the end of the day, [Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang] is on it, driving his teams to stay in front end,
He added,
They have built meaningful moats around their franchise,
Gelsinger led aggressive efforts to turn around Intel for more than three years. He slashed thousands of jobs, improved costs, secured CHIPS Act funding, built chip foundries, and promised fast AI chips that could compete with Nvidia and AMD (AMD).
He was fired in early December amid missed financial targets, lack of progress on the AI chip front, and a cash drain on the foundry business.
Intel’s fourth quarter sales fell 7% year over year to $14.3 billion, and net earnings plunged 76%. The company forecasts it will only break even on the profit line this year.
Analysts think Nvidia may post upward of $5 per share in earnings in 2025. Nvidia’s stock is up 1,220% over the past five years, while Intel’s has dropped 69%.
Intel announced Lip-Bu Tan as its new CEO in March.
Tan was the CEO of Cadence Design Systems (CDNS) from 2009 to 2021. After serving on Intel’s board for two years, he left in August 2024 following clashes with Gelsinger over how to position the business.
Tan frequently pushed for a better artificial intelligence strategy to take on Nvidia and faster decision making at the notoriously bureaucratic Intel.
It will be hard for someone to dethrone Nvidia, said Gelsinger.
Gelsinger added,
I’ve always viewed that there’s sort of this 10x rule, where if you’re not 10x better than the king, you’re not going to displace that.
“Here you have to be at least sustainably 10x better, and then people will say, okay, yeah, I’m going to go invest in that,”
Tan will get to outline his strategy publicly — and detail how he will navigate Trump tariffs — when the company announces first quarter results on April 24 after the market close.
You can now listen to Intel’s earnings calls live on Yahoo Finance. Simply head to the company’s ticker page at the scheduled start time of 5:00 p.m.
Three times each week, I field insight-filled conversations and chats with the biggest names in business and markets on Opening Bid. You can find more episodes on our video hub or watch on your preferred streaming service.
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Former Intel CEO on Nvidia: You have to be 10x better to dethrone the king, source
