(Reuters) – S&P World Scores on Tuesday downgraded chipmaker Intel Corp’s credit standing to ‘BBB’ from ‘BBB+’, on gradual enterprise restoration and uncertainty following administration modifications.
The chipmaking icon’s income for the primary 9 months of this yr, which was roughly flat year-on-year at $38.84 billion, was under the scores company’s expectations, S&P World mentioned.
The departure of CEO Pat Gelsinger, who was crucial to the Intel’s built-in manufacturing technique, additionally provides uncertainty to the execution of the corporate’s turnaround plan, S&P World mentioned.
“Regardless of the corporate’s assurances that enterprise technique will stay largely unchanged, we nonetheless assume some stage of change underneath the brand new CEO, which might add to uncertainty of the timing of the enterprise turnaround,” the scores company mentioned.
Gelsinger’s departure got here nicely earlier than the completion of his four-year roadmap to revive the corporate’s lead in making the quickest and smallest laptop chips, a crown it misplaced to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
S&P World, nonetheless, stored its firm outlook “steady” to replicate its view that Intel will expertise progress after a modest restoration subsequent yr.
(Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Modifying by Krishna Chandra Eluri)