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Crossroads for Intel
pillageplunder writes "Businessweek offers a pretty balanced read on what challenges Intel faces in the upcoming year. Rivals Samsung and AMD are making inroads on Intels core businesses, an expected cyclical industry downturn looms next year, and with several critical delays in new (for Intel) markets puts its strategy at risk. A neat read."
Most businesses are considered "cyclical". Basically, this means they do better whent he economy is better, worse when the economy is worse. i.e. they do better when people and businesses have more money to spend. People hold off buying when they don't have the money, because these are discretionary expenses.
This is in contrast to some businesses which are fairly "noncyclical"--demand is relatively constant over time, regardless of ability to paty. Medical care is a classic example here--people don't decide to hold off on having tha heart attack until they have a better job.
Then, there are some "countercyclical" industries--ones that do BETTER when people have less money to spend. Examples here are businesses that make "inferior" goods--cheaper substitues for more expensive products. They do better when people have less money, because in good economic times, their products are more attractive.
To an extent, there's an aspect of being "cylical" to most businesses, but some are more tied to economic cycles than others. Intel makes a good case for being a very cyclical business--computing upgrades are a fairly discretionary expense, and delaying upgrades is a fairly common response to bad business climates. On the other hand, when the economy picks up, and people have money to spend, getting those computer upgrades they've been meaning to get for awhile becomes more attractive.