Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are advising the Santa Clara, Calif.-headquartered chip giant on strategic options, which could also include mergers and acquisitions, sources told Bloomberg. Intel declined to comment to the publication. (Bloomberg)

Talking point: The company has seen its stock and star fall as neighbour Nvidia’s AI-specialized chips have made it a darling of markets and data centre operators. Unlike Nvidia, which outsources production, Intel makes its own semiconductors, and its foundry division also manufactures them for other firms. Intel is planning to spend up to US$27 billion this year and up to US$23 billion in 2025 on capital expenditures as it builds new fabrication facilities or expands existing ones in the U.S., Ireland, Germany and Poland. (The firm has offset some of those costs by bringing in investors like Toronto’s Brookfield Infrastructure.) Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger made manufacturing a key part of his turnaround strategy for the firm when he took the job in 2021. The firm is also rolling out new chips to compete for a larger share of the AI market.