Intel’s comeback story is even wilder than it seems

Bloomberg has one deep dive this week about how Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan is trying to save one of Silicon Valley’s most storied and stumbling chipmakers. It’s worth a read, but it actually undermines the most overwhelming part of the story: Intel shares are up a whopping 490% in the past year, a Wall Street gamble that may well be ahead of the company’s actual turnaround.

Tan, who took over in March last year, has spent much of his first year chatting rather than restructuring – striking a sweetheart deal with the US government (now Intel’s third-largest shareholder) and cozying up to Elon Musk. factory partnershipand reportedly tentative manufacturing agreements with both Apple and Tesla.

The foundations are still messy. Intel’s chip revenues lag well behind market leader TSMC, and employees tell Bloomberg that Tan has paid little attention to the details internally, with some teams adjusting missed deadlines rather than recovering from them.

But investors are betting big on the bigger picture. Whether execution will follow is the multi-billion dollar question.