A step into the Metaworld

Intel (INTC) says it will spend $7.1bn to build a chip manufacturing plant in Malaysia as it seeks to compete with TSMC. Intel claims software that will be a "technical breakthrough" for the meta-universe. Moody's gives Intel a new credit rating.

Intel (INTC) CEO Pat Gelsinger said that the company intends to invest about $7.1 billion to build a new chip manufacturing and assembly plant in Malaysia.

Intel is looking to regain lost ground in the semiconductor market as its manufacturing technology has become inferior to rival AMD (AMD), Nvidia (NVDA) and TSMC (TSM).

Intel (INTC) shares, which have lost 11.4 per cent in the past six months, were up 1.95 per cent on Wednesday, partly recovering losses of recent days.

Intel executives believe that overall demand for chips will increase by 20% during the pandemic, and the chip shortage will continue until 2023.Intel's new Malaysian plant is scheduled to start production in 2024. According to Malaysia's International Trade and Industry Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali, the new plant will create more than 4,000 jobs for Intel and create 5,000 jobs in the country's construction industry.

In addition to Malaysia, Intel also owns a plant in Dalian, China. According to Bloomberg, Gelsinger visited Taiwan this week to meet with TSMC executives. As Intel plans to expand production in the US and Europe, Gelsinger says he will announce early next year.

Intel and the Metaworld

Raja Koduri, head of Intel's Accelerated Computing and Graphics Group, said at the Dec. 13-15 press conference "The Rise of the Metaverse: Populating the Metaverse" that the company's first technological breakthrough in the metaverse would be software that helps devices tap the processing power of other available devices, including those with Intel competitor chips, Reuters reported.

The software aims to solve technical problems for users. So, for example, if a gamer's laptop playing a game with high-end graphics needs extra power and there is an unused gaming PC in another room, the software could detect the spare power idle on the PC and connect to it via the home network so that the game on the laptop runs better.

Ratings agency Moody's on Monday affirmed Intel's A1 credit rating and Prime-1 rating for Intel Corporation's commercial paper.

Moody's experts expect Intel's revenues to be around $77 billion in 2021, down from $77.9 billion in 2020 (compared to $72 billion in 2019).