ition of the company. Intel is unable to take into account any set amount of expense or loss of net income due to these uncertainties.Intel is also currently under investigation by the EPA in California for allegedly contaminating ground water at one of their former plant sites. Intel has made agreements with some of the other companies on the EPA's "superfund" list and has traded tax leases with these companies in exchange for them covering most of the cost of this potential clean up for which they would be responsible. This clean up is expected to cost a minimal amount of money for Intel and is not expected to have any material adverse effect on the company's financial position. Industry:All divisions of the computer industry including hardware has been growing rapidly in the last ten years due to widespread use of personal computers and the incorporation of computers into all industries and jobs. Demand for computer products remains strong and will remain strong because of constant advances in computer technology and the need for businesses to stay on the cutting edge to avoid being left behind. Intel's main competitor is AMD. AMD has had negative net income for the past four years or from 1996 through 1999. While the asset turnover of both companies is similar, Intel has consistently had higher asset turnover through recent years. The main reason why AMD has had negative net income is because they invested in research and development that was expensed from total sales. The long term debt of AMD has also increased while the long term debt of Intel has fallen dramatically. AMD has a high debt to equity ratio compared with Intel and has a lot higher financial leverage which increases the risk for AMD because they are making negative income and still required to cover interest payments. While it may seem that AMD is on the decline, their research and development is going to pay off in future years. They have recently come out with a m...
