David Tykocinski thinks the artificial intelligence cycle is entering a phase that will boost the fortunes of one of the oldest chipmakers.
The co-chief investment officer of $16 billion hedge fund Maverick Capital pitched Intel as an investment at the Robin Hood investor conference, according to people present at the closed-door event.
His prediction for the company: It’s the next trillion-dollar semiconductor manufacturer.
His rationale is that the explosion of AI agent usage in recent months will be a boon for companies like Intel and AMD, similar to how the initial model-testing phase of the AI cycle fueled Nvidia’s rapid growth.
Compared to text generation done by chatbots, agents break tasks down into more components and generally require more CPU usage than GPU. The two biggest CPU manufacturers are Intel and AMD.
Tykocinski said the company’s upside is more than 100% earnings growth in the next couple of years, a person in the audience told Business Insider.
There are already several semiconductor companies that have surpassed the $1 trillion valuation mark, including the aforementioned Nvidia, TSMC, Broadcom, and Micron.
But Intel, in which the federal government purchased a 10% stake last year for just under $9 billion, trails these mega-cap companies, despite its stock price more than doubling this year. The company’s market cap is roughly $500 billion, meaning Intel would need to double in value to make Tykocinski’s prediction come true.
Maverick, founded by billionaire Tiger Cub Lee Ainslie, who is still the firm’s managing partner, ended the second quarter with a stake in Intel worth more than $500 million, according to regulatory filings, making the company the firm’s fourth-largest public holding at the time.
Maverick declined to comment. The stock-picking fund is up more than 16% through the end of September, according to HSBC’s Hedge Weekly report.
