Today featured good news for chip stock Intel (INTC), which these days is a comparative rarity. But new reports emerged that it was working with the Japanese government to get a “next-generation quantum computer” up and running. The news was sufficiently good to send Intel shares up nearly 2% in Wednesday afternoon’s trading.
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Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) is looking to use Intel processors to power said computer, which it intends to make available for universities worldwide. Private companies willing to pay a fee for use can also get in on the action, and Intel and AIST have signed a “memorandum of cooperation” to get the project up and running.
The program is set to start in just a couple months—sometime this spring, at last report—and will ultimately pursue a computer that delivers “tens of thousands of qubits” of processing power. The higher the number of qubits, the better the overall performance. For reference, current quantum computers run around 100 qubits, which would make a 10,000-qubit machine two orders of magnitude greater.
And More Job Cuts
However, many Intel employees will never be around to see that quantum computer take off. Intel is reportedly cutting another 58 employees from its Folsom operations, reports noted. This brings the total to 1,117 jobs lost just at Folsom since January 2023. The latest 58 will lose their jobs starting March 31. Intel also plans to sell the Folsom facility outright, leasing back some of the space to keep at least some operations going therein.
The 1,117 jobs lost at Folsom are just a patch on the numbers across the entire business. Over the last two years, reports note, Intel has cut around 23,000 jobs, dropping its total workforce by 17% overall. Given that Pat Gelsinger was looking for a 15% cut not so long ago, this shows that the cuts are even deeper than Intel originally expected.
Is Intel a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on INTC stock based on one Buy, 25 Holds and four Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 53.61% loss in its share price over the past year, the average INTC price target of $22.02 per share implies 12.09% upside potential.
