The Cogito Brief

Good morning,

Intel missed the first big wave of the AI boom.

That sounds strange to say about one of the most important chip companies in history, but it’s true. NVIDIA exploded and became the face of AI hardware, while Intel lost market share and mindshare.

It’s fascinating now because Intel is trying to rebuild itself while the rules of computing are being rewritten. AI has changed what the industry needs most and that’s no longer just faster laptops or better personal computers.

Companies need massive processing power, advanced chip manufacturing, data centers, and specialized hardware built for AI workloads. Intel is attempting to position itself in the middle of that transition before it gets left behind completely.

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For decades, Intel dominated the PC era. If you bought a laptop or desktop, there was a good chance Intel helped power it. Intel became one of the most recognizable names in tech because its chips were plastered all over personal computing.…but AI changed the conversation.

The biggest demand is no longer chips that make your computer run faster. The largest demand is for hardware that can train large AI models, run complex systems, and support massive amounts of computing happening behind the scenes.

That’s where NVIDIA surged ahead of Intel.

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NVIDIA’s GPUs became more valuable because they were well-suited for AI workloads. As companies raced to build and deploy AI tools, NVIDIA became the obvious winner in the minds of many investors, businesses, and everyday people following the AI boom.

Intel, meanwhile, had to answer a much harder question: How does a company that helped define one era of computing become important in the next one? That’s what makes the story interesting.

Intel is still trying to sell better chips, but more importantly, they’re also trying to become a bigger manufacturing force again. That matters a lot because chips are now being treated like critical infrastructure. The world needs physical systems that make those apps possible...that is where Intel is trying to come back into play.

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Here’s a great example, think about AI like a city.

A chatbot is the building you walk into and the app is the storefront you see. But underneath that city are power lines, roads, factories, water systems, and construction crews making everything work.

That’s the part you don’t see. And that’s the part Intel is trying to help build.

Whether Intel fully catches up is impossible to know, and this is not financial advice. But the company still has decades of engineering experience, manufacturing knowledge, industry relationships, and brand recognition that most companies cannot build overnight.

The AI boom is about who builds the chips, servers, data centers, and infrastructure that allow those models to exist in the first place. And that’s why Intel is still worth watching.

Zack Wright