Much of the news about hiring out of chip stock Intel (INTC) has been in the negative. Hundreds of jobs have been lost so far as Intel works toward a larger goal of firing a hefty percentage of its workforce. But Intel is also hiring for some very specific roles. These efforts, though, did not endear shareholders much, and shares slipped fractionally in Tuesday afternoon’s trading.
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One of the biggest new hires was for someone to run the government affairs office, and the hire there was probably the best move it could make. Intel hired Robin Colwell to handle that office, and given that Colwell was a “special assistant” in the Trump administration, Colwell will likely be able to handle the ins and outs of the second Trump administration surprisingly well.
Meanwhile, Intel also brought in Pushkar Ranade to serve as interim chief technology officer, as well as chief of staff for Lip-Bu Tan directly. Ranade has been with Intel since 2003, and will serve from the Santa Clara headquarters. Finally, Intel brought in Annie Shea Weckesser to serve as chief marketing and communications officer. Weckesser was previously the chief marketing officer of SambaNova, which suggests some interesting possibilities for future development.
Oh, Yeah, About SambaNova….
We know that SambaNova has been the cause of some serious controversy. Mostly because Intel has been looking to buy it over some strenuous objections from people who think the deal does more to enrich Lip-Bu Tan than it does Intel shareholders. But there may be another problem with the deal: SambaNova itself.
Intel’s judgment has not been the greatest when it comes to buying AI firms. Way back in 2019, Intel bought Habana Labs, which was where the Gaudi AI training processor came from. We all know how the Gaudi processors turned out. Granted, that was not all Intel’s fault. And certainly, SambaNova could prove to be a whole different proposition for Intel. After all, SambaNova is focused on the AI inference market, which is significantly more open. But Intel’s last failure in the AI space is making some look askance at future development.
Is Intel a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on INTC stock based on five Buys, 24 Holds and six Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After an 83.51% rally in its share price over the past year, the average INTC price target of $37.25 per share implies 0.2% downside risk.
