The World Can’t Live Without Intel Corporation (INTC), Says Rivkin

Is Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) the most vital company? Jack Rivkin, chief investment officer at Altegris Advisors, says he thinks so in an interview on Bloomberg’s Market Makers.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), according to the investor, has the capital and know-how about driving innovation and development in the technology sector and they are doing it.

“Intel is the most important company in the world in my view. Intel is the keeper of Moore’s Law. Intel is the one that’s driving these processing speeds. Every year and a half, they’re cutting them in half. […] Without Intel, I’m not sure where these other tech companies would be,” Rivkin said.

The investor also said that when he met with former Intel CEO Paul Otellini, the top executive said that his company had clear visibility about Moore’s Law in the next decade.

Furthermore, he said that Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is the largest venture capital company in the world. They have $10.5 billion in venture capital, Rivkin notes, and the company has interests in everything that will be very influential in the future.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), he said, still has a leg up against its competitors in this space because it’s working on the next generation of computing, Rivkin said. The comment came after Bloomberg pointed out that collectively, what competitors like ARM Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:ARMH) and Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:TSM) can be seen as what Intel as a whole does. ARM designs processor architecture while companies like Taiwan Semiconductor use these designs to make processors.

In fact, ARM Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:ARMH) can be seen as ready to strike at its rival because of the shift to mobile computing. The company also recently noted how data centers are utilizing their designs more and more.

Meanwhile, Rivkin said that valuations in the technology sector concern him only with companies he calls “new tech”. Intel and its peers like Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) are not as expensive, he said. Rivkin said that “old tech” are a good to buy because they are “cheap” and “they actually have earnings”.

Ross Margolies’ Stelliam Investment Management owned about 5.09 million Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) shares by the end of the third quarter of 2014.