Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has revealed he ‘hopes’ Intel can recover but warns it will be ‘pretty tough’ for them at this stage.

Speaking to the Associated Press, the philanthropist said he was ‘stunned’ that the one dominant chip-maker had lost its way, claiming they are no longer state-of-the-art. “I am stunned that Intel basically lost its way,” Gates said, as he prepared to launch his new memoir, “Source Code: My Beginnings,”.

“(Intel co-founder) Gordon Moore always kept Intel at the state of the art. And now they are kind of behind in terms of chip design and they are kind of behind in chip fabrication. And both of those are very capital intensive.” he says.

While the likes of AMD and Nvidia have doubled down on AI capabilities, Gates claims Intel has ‘missed’ the AI chip revolution, which puts them at a disadvantage. “They missed the AI chip revolution, and with their fabrication capabilities, they don't even use standards that people like Nvidia and Qualcomm find easy,” he said. “I thought Pat Gelsinger was very brave to say, ‘No, I am going to fix the design side, I am going to fix the fab side.' I was hoping for his sake, for the country's sake, that he would be successful. I hope Intel recovers, but it looks pretty tough for them at this stage.”.

AMD continues to soar as Intel struggle

Meanwhile, AMD has reported record growth in the latest financial results. CEO Dr Lisa Su has helped transform the once struggling chip-maker into a dominant force again, with 24.2% revenue growth year over year. This was primarily driven by its Data Center sector, which drove $3.9 billion in Q4 revenue, up 69% from the prior year. It wasn’t all positive news for AMD, though, with its Gaming sector once again falling 59%, delivering revenues of $563 million – despite releasing one of the best gaming CPUs we’ve seen in recent times.

All being said, it’ll be interesting to see where Intel goes from here, as right now, there are few signs that things are improving, sadly.

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Charlie Noon

Charlie is the Affiliate manager for PC Guide. He has a vast understanding of most PC hardware and consumer essentials, using his knowledge to provide the best products and the biggest deals.