Quote Of The Day -- July 24, 2025

Locator: 48828FIRED.

Does JPow have his hard hat on backwards? 

On another note, Spinal Tap II opens in theaters this fall. 

Intel's Second Quarter Results And Comments -- CEO Says Intel Might Be Forced To Exit The Chip-Manufacturing Business -- July 24, 2025

Locator: 48827INTEL.

Note: Jim Cramer says tech companies need to be spending more, not less. Link here. 

Updates

July 25, 2025: INTC sinks 0ver 7% in pre-market trading day after earnings released. Winner after Intel's earnings released? AMD.

**********************************
Intel -- INTC

From late last night:

Intel better hope the market has a great day tomorrow. Intel is going to ride the coattails of whatever the tech market does tomorrow. No matter what Intel reports tomorrow, share price will be determined by:

• Intel's guidance during the conference call; and,
• sentiment for the overall microchip market.

Links everywhere. This is a nice summary of Intel's history since the original iPhone was introduced. That was in 2006, when Intel passed on the opportunity to supply chips for the Apple phone which had not yet been introduced. No doubt Steve Jobs was as secretive and as ruthless as ever to get the best deal possible. Whatever. Intel passed on the opportunity in 2006. Based on some stories it sounds like Intel didn't necessarily say "no." Intel simply didn't get back to Steve Jobs. Internally, Intel felt they couldn't afford to be distracted by the iPhone. They had their own strategic plan. 

If you want that story from a trusted source, or simply enjoy schadenfreude, here's the prompt for ChatGPT:

When the iPhone was introduced, it is said Intel passed on providing chips for the iPhone. Is that true and if true about what year was that?

Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in January 2007. Apple ended up choosing Samsung to manufacture its ARM-based chips. 

Anyway, all of that for background to this link. The link is great; Moz Farooque tells a great story, but the ads make it a mess and it's simply easier to go to ChatGPT.

***********************************
Intel's 2Q25 Earnings

When CNBC began reporting the numbers today, things did not seem so bad, but the more one got into the details, the worse it got.

Initially, Intel shares -- might have actually gone up a bit -- but once the details emerged, shares prices began to fall again. 

We'll see tomorrow, but notes taken from WSJ and Reuters once the analysts had a chance to really dive in ... well, it looked like a real mess. 

If all the tech companies were struggling now, Intel might not look so bad, but the rest of the industry is expanding and spending, not cutting and looking for a Plan B.

 *****************************
Notes From The WSJ and Reuters

For updates following today's conference call: link here.

Intel is a mess — from today’s WSJ and Reuters:

• 
jobs cuts
• will layoff 15% of workforce
• after a huge cut in personnel, already now down to 96,000, Intel will continue to cut to get to 75,000

• at first glance those numbers don’t “rhyme,” but here’s the explanation from Reuters: 
• the company is cutting its workforce by 15% from 96,400 that it reported at the end of June, and plans to further reduce the company’s headcount to 75,000 by end of the year. 
• the remainder of the cuts to bring the headcount to 75,000 will be through attrition and “other means,” according to the company .. 
• so that explains it — a 15% cut takes the 96,400 to 81,940 and then the additional 6,940 through attrition, etc.

• facility construction
• will slow / stop construction

• will scrap plans to spend tens of billions of dollars on new facilities in Poland and Germany;

• in the US, of note, will slow construction on new facilities in Ohio (having taken money from the government for these projects they don’t have the option of canceling those projects)

• the company will also consolidate chip packaging operations in Costa Rica with its other packaging operations in Vietnam and Malaysia

• strategy, going forward: 
• will refocus its strategy on the highly competitive market for AI chips

• will launch its Panther Lake line of mobile processors, the first product to be made using 18A, later this year

  
• but having said that, Intel is betting the farm on its 14A technology , 
• buried in the Reuters article: 
• if Intel fails to find a significant external customer for 14A, Intel may be forced to exit the chip-manufacturing business 
• Intel says it will maintain the option to use chips made by other foundries if they cancel the 14A but still need improved performance

• June quarter:

• revenue flat at $12.9 billion
• 
wow, although, earnings loss was less than expected, nonetheless Intel’s loss for the second quarter widened to $2.9 billion from a $1.6 billion in the year earlier period
• 
this is the company’s sixth-consecutive quarterly loss, extending its longest streak in 35 years
• most concerning: sales in its PC chip division — the company’s largest segment — fell 3% from a year earlier to $7.9 billion but beat analyst expectations

• tt a time when “all the others” are increasing CAPEX — and by huge amounts — Intel is cutting CAPEX

• and then look at this: the company forecasts steeper third-quarter losses than wall Street estimated, despite anticipating higher sales than analysts expected

• the company said it expects a third-quarter loss of 24 cents per share, steeper than estimates of losses of 18 cents per share 
• buried at the end of the Reuters article, June quarter:

• adjusted loss of 10 cents per share vs estimates of a profit of one cent per share
• 
unadjusted loss of 67 cents per share vs estimates of 26 cents per share

• unadjusted loss was trending towards three times the estimate 
• the adjusted loss was more than ten times the estimate, and the estimate was for a slight profit, not a loss. 

The six-month chart:

Three New Permits; Fourteen Permits Renewed; Four DUCs Reported As Completed -- July 24, 2025

Locator: 48826B.

July 25, 2025: INTC sinks 0ver 7% in pre-market trading day after earnings released. Winner after Intel's earnings released? AMD.  

*********************************
Back to the Bakken

WTI: $66.03. 

Active rigs: 32.

Three new permits, #42154 - #42156, inclusive:


• Operator: Devon Energy

• Field: Painted Woods (Williams County)
• 
Comments:

• Devon Energy has permits for three Trans Am wells, SWSW 3-154-103, 
• to be sited 1091 / 1181 FSL and 386 FWL

Fourteen permits renewed:


• Enerplus (7):
• a Ridley permit and a Loggerhead permit, both in Antelope oil field, McKenzie County;
• five Fort Berthold permits in Eagle Nest, Dunn County;
• 
Hess (5):
• five SC-JW Hamilton permits, Long Creek, Williams County;

• Silver Hill (2): 
• a Herseth permit, Gros Ventre, Burke County; a Sundhagen C permit in Big Meadow, Williams County;


Four producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:


• 41177, 2,400, CLR, Kenneth 4-17H1, Williams County;
• 41179,1,629, CLR, Kenneth 5-17H1, Williams County;
• 41180, 2,206, CLR, Helen 6-8H1, Williams County;
• 41249, 1,397, Thronson Federal 10-28H, Mountrail County; 

Well name changes:

• BR: five permits; 
• it appears, based on the names, the wells will reflect section line wells, 2560-acre spacing rather than 1280-acre spacing; 
• four Omlid wells and one Abercrombie well, all in McKenzie County;

Much Could Be Said -- July 24, 2025

Locator: 48825MARKET.

From CNBC today, ahead of Intel's earnings report today:

• $10,000 in NVDA ten years ago would be worth today: $3.0 million.
• $10,000 in INTC ten years ago would be worth today: $10,000.

Fact checked via ChatGPT:

• $10,000 in NVDA ten years ago would be worth today: $3.6 million.
• $10,000 in INTC ten years ago would be worth today: $10,100.

Much could be said.

In the past three years?

• NVDA: $43,000 today.
• INTC: $6,300 today (about $4,000 less than the amount originally invested.

While gaming is still a major revenue source, 2016 was the pivotal year when Nvidia officially positioned itself as an AI computing company, not just a gaming GPU maker. 

INTC today -- Intel releases earnings after the market closes later today.

CVX In The News -- Venezuela -- Trump Gives Chevron The Green Light -- July 24, 2025

Locator: 48824CVX.

First: Hulk Hogan dies at age 71.

Now back to Chevron.

LPG Update -- EPD, VG -- July 24, 2025

Locator: 48823LNG.

Reminder: this is not an investment site. I probably need to add EPD to my disclaimer as a company in which I am inappropriately interested. I haven't added to my position in years. In the old days I had automatic dividend reinvestment; probably should have kept it for EPD. My bad.

I write a lot about tech now -- on a Bakken site. LOL.

But AI is an energy story.

A natural gas story. Now. Later, a nuclear story.

And energy is still the centerpiece of the blog, although some days I wonder.

All that to note this, link here. I assume the only reason to be buying EPD is for the dividend. And perhaps buying on the dip if one is still interested in adding to one's energy position. 

• Having said that, shares up 75% over five years; the buying point keeps rising, slowly, but surely:
• 2022: $22
• 2023: $26
• now: $29
• the biggest problem, taxes on dividends. LOL.

Meanwhile, Venture Global:

IBM -- Quantum Computing -- July 24, 2025

Locator: 48822QUANTUM.

Wow, opportunities never end. 

Over the past few years I've missed a few tectonic shifts in "the market." 

Most recently, I was concerned that I missed the "quantum computing" shift, but felt that I had plenty of time.

This is one of those days that I'm happy that I post "stuff" other than just news about the Bakken -- see the note below the fold regarding "leading quantum computing companies."

There are days I worry that IBM could go the way of Intel but yesterday's comments from the IBM CEO and ChatGPT's comments from June suggest otherwise.

Ticker IBM:

On x: link here. 

This was posted June 14, 2025:

*****************************
Leading Quantum Computing Companies

First question to ask ChatGPT: what are the leading five companies in quantum computing?

I'll list the five but it does you, the reader, and ChatGPT a huge disservice. It's not enough to know the top five but also why these are the top five and the start-ups not among the top five.

The top five:

• IBM
• Google (Alphabet)
• IonQ
• Rigetti computing
  
• Quantiuum (Honeywell + Cambridge Quantum mergers

Honorable mentions:

• Microsoft
• D-Wave
• Alibaba
• PsiQuantum

Nvidia Supplier Hynix Blows Out Earnings Estimates And Widens Lead Over Samsung -- July 24, 2025

Locator: 48821AI.

Take a look at Nvidia's supplier Hynix:

***************************
AMD

Google Vs Tesla -- Just For The Fun Of It -- July 24, 2025

Locator: 48820GOOG.

Tag: Tesla. 

Before we get to Google and Tesla, a look at Nvidia's supplier Hynix:

Google: link here.

Tesla: link here.

What A Difference A Day Makes -- Google -- July 24, 2025

Locator: 48820GOOG.

Google: raises CAPEX by $10 billion, now up to $85 billion. That's just one year. I can't get my head around that. What does it mean? Question. How much did Warren Buffett spend on acquiring BNSF?

Berkshire Hathaway paid $26.5 billion in cash and stock to acquire the remaining 77.4% of BNSF Railway it didn't already own, according to Wikipedia. The total deal value, including the previously held shares, was approximately $34 billion, according to several sources. This purchase was finalized in early 2010.

At market open:  the Dow was down 300 points. Ouch, but one-third of that is due to IBM plunging after results yesterday. 

Reminder: this is not an investment site. See disclaimer. 

GOOG: up 4%; up $7.20 in pre-market trading. 

From yesterday with an update:

July 24, 2025: Google spooks investors with $85 billion spend rate AI. When earning came out, Google shares surged on how well Google had done. Then, when it became known that Google would spend $85 billion on AI, investors were spooked and GOOG dropped. Many story lines:

• more evidence that AI is here to stay and only going to grow bigger;
• a lot of tech companies. have had big runs; investors / traders use these opportunities to take profits;
• the amount of money needed to succeed in AI is its own moat
• drilling down on Google suggests it is doing surprisingly well in light of chatbots
• I can't stress enough how long this AI revolution will continue. Link here. There will be a lot of folks -- in fact "all" folks who click on that link will see how long that post is and will reply: TLDR.
  

Original Post

Revenue:  $96.43 billion vs $94 billion.

EPS:  $2.31 vs. $2.18 estimate.

Holy mackerel

Cloud revenue above estimates.

Cloud revenue: $13.62 billion vs $13.1 billion.

Now GOOG turns negative.

It will now depend on the conference call. 

AI alive and well. It's not going to go away. More and more AI is coming back to the US.

Blade Runner -- A Re-Look -- July 24, 2025

Locator: 48819AI.

See this link. 

Blade Runner.

In addition to what was posted there, I had some fun with my friend ChatGPT to discuss the metaphorical relationship between the movie Blade Runner and the use of the term "blades" when referring to GPUs, CPUs, NPUs, 

That, of course, led to a desire on my part to watch the movie again. 

Blade Runner came out in 1982. 

All of a sudden "we're there." LOL.

I watched Blade Runner when it first came out -- I don't recall where I was then, either Grand Forks AFB, ND, or Bitburg AB, Germany. I suppose I saw the movie in Germany. Doesn't matter. Just going down memory lane.

Anyway, I don't recall thinking very much about the movie one way or the other. I suppose in the big scheme of things I didn't care for it much.

Last night I watched a documentary of the movie on YouTube. I was intrigued with regard to:

• what I missed the first time I saw the movie; and,
• as noted above, "all of a sudden, we're there" -- the need for blade runners. LOL.

I posted all that to post this.

I am really, really impressed with Amazon's business model and marketing.

I am very, very slowly building a personal digital library of movies off the Amazon platform. I can't recommend folks do the same. There is so much content that "buying" digital movies doesn't make sense.

Except when it does.

If you fall into the camp of "buying" digital movies, Amazon does some interesting things:

• first, Amazon Prime rotates movies for free, but only for short periods of time;
• then, when Amazon offers those movies for rental or buying, the movies have a "regular price," but every so often some movies "go on sale."
• the regular price for Blade Runner has historically been too expensive for me to buy.

Last night, for whatever reason Blade Runner was on sale. I don't recall exactly but doing the math, I believe Blade Runner (to buy) was 60% off. 

It's now in my library and I watched the first few minutes. Amazing. I now get it. It only took 43 years. LOL. It's a keeper.

What do others think? I asked my friend: Where does the movie "Blade Runner" rank when it comes to critics, and when it comes to general audiences. 

Answer:

Rotten Tomatoes (Final Cut): 

• 94% Tomatometer score (as of the Final Cut release) 
• 89% for the original theatrical version
• Average rating: ~8.5 / 10

Metacritic:

• Weighted score between 84–89/100 based on about 11–15 critics, which signifies universal acclaim
• Film polls & critics’ rankings
• #3 among Ridley Scott’s films (behind Alien and The Martian)
• Voted by scientists in The Guardian (2004) and readers of New Scientist (2008) as the #1 sci-fi film of all time
• Named among the greatest films of the 20th century by critics, programmers, and film archives in multiple polls

Blade Runner is widely regarded as a critical masterpiece and cinematic icon. While its opening reception was mixed due to pacing and tone, it has since become a beloved favorite among audiences and consistently ranks at—or near—the top in sci-fi and film legacy polls.

Blackstone Is Investing $85 Billion In Pennsylvania To Develop AI Energy Infrastructure -- July 24, 2025

Locator: 48818AI.

Search: 

Blackstone is investing over $25 billion in Pennsylvania to develop digital and energy infrastructure, including new data centers and power plants, specifically targeting the growth of AI-related industries.

This investment, led by Blackstone Infrastructure and Blackstone Real Estate, aims to catalyze an additional $60 billion in private investment across the state.

The initiative includes a partnership with QTS, a major data center operator, to develop multiple data center sites in northeastern Pennsylvania.

A joint venture with PPL Corp, a utility company, will focus on developing natural gas power generation to support the energy needs of these data centers.

Key aspects of the investment: Data Center Development: QTS Data Centers, a Blackstone portfolio company, will lead the development of new data center campuses in northeastern Pennsylvania. Power Generation: A joint venture with PPL will focus on building natural gas power plants to provide a reliable energy supply for the data centers.

Strategic Location: The data centers are strategically located near the Marcellus and Utica shale basins, which provides access to natural gas for power generation..

Data Center Developers Increasingly Exploring Off-Grid Options For Power Generation -- RBN Energy -- July 24, 2025

Locator: 48817B.

Tea leaves: agreement between EU and the US on trade will miss the August 1, 2025, deadline. 

United Health plummeting: down 12%in pre-market trading as reports come out that UnitedHealth is under criminal investigation for the way it "managed" Medicaid.

UNP: it is now confirmed that UNP and Nortolk Southern are in advanced conversations. UNP continues to fall; NSC is surging. Breaking on CNBC at 8:12 a.m., July 24, 2025.  In pre-market trading, UNP down 3% and NFS up 3%. Under Hillary/Obama/Biden/Kamala there is not way this merger would be approved; times have changed. Cramer is giddy over this possibility: "the gilded age of rails."

Pennsylvania Data Center: Blackstone, $25 billion.

Columbia University agrees to pay $200 million suit to settle anti-Semitism suit. Link here.

BRK: Bright Rock sells 25,000 shares of BRK. Link here.

*********************************
Back to the Bakken

NOG: 2Q25 operational highlights; only part of what NOG released this morning.

• completed 22 ground game transactions by adding 4.8 net wells and 2,600 net acres
• acquisitions across all four of NOG's major basins; cost, $23.8 million now; $7.2 millin incremental
• wins lawsuit with unnamed ND producer regarding post-production costs previously deducted from revenues
• company gross: $82 million; nets $49 million after paying $33 million in legal costs

WTI: $65.66.

New wells:

• Friday, July 25, 2025: 34 for the month, 34 for the quarter, 464 for the year,
• None.
• Thursday, July 24, 2025: 34 for the month, 34 for the quarter, 464 for the year
• 41346, conf, CLR, Syverson 5-12H,
• 40550, conf, Hunt Oil, Redmond 157-89-19-30H 2,
• 40181, conf, Hunt Oil, Clearwater, 157-90-23-26H 4,

RBN Energy: data center developers increasingly exploring off-grid options for power generation.

Perhaps the most hyped-up topic in energy these days is how much electricity new data centers will need to keep up with the increased use of artificial intelligence (AI). And that’s prompting some big questions, such as where all the power will come from and how much natural gas demand will rise. But another crucial question may be whether these data centers will pull that power from the grid or generate it themselves on-site. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll discuss the benefits and challenges of each approach.

First, let’s offer a bit of background and some data-center basics. As we discussed in Storm Front, large-scale data centers (see photo below) can be home to thousands or even tens of thousands of networked computers that process, store and share data. Data centers — many of them owned and operated by tech giants — are among the most energy-intensive building types, consuming up to 50 times the energy per square foot of a typical commercial office building, with electrical demand at larger facilities ranging from 100 megawatts (MW) to 2,000 MW. (For perspective, as we noted in Just Can’t Get Enough, a city the size of Lubbock, TX, — population 267,000 — only requires about 700 MW.) Demand for data centers has grown exponentially with the expansion of AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity, which require far more computational power — and energy — than conventional Google searches.

A Google Data Center in Ellis County, TX. Source: Google

As we discussed in We Should Be Friends, renewables like wind and solar often remain an important (if intermittent) part of the power mix for data centers (see Together In Electric Dreams) and nuclear power holds significant long-term potential (along with years-long red tape). But natural gas typically remains Option #1 because, as we noted in Dive In, it is a consistent source of around-the-clock power that can be deployed at scale, usually within a reasonable period of time.

The Bakken Needs More Natural Gas Takeaway -- Which Project Will Advance? RBN Energy -- July 24, 2025

Locator: 48816B.

This article is now available in its entirety. Click on first link blink below, not the "Archived" link. The link will be fully available for a few days and will then disappear.

RBN Energy: the Bakken needs more gas takeaway. Which project will advance? Archived.

The Bakken Shale needs more natural gas takeaway capacity, North Dakota wants to encourage more in-state consumption of Bakken-sourced gas, and two entities — WBI Energy and a combo of Intensity Infrastructure Partners and Rainbow Energy Center — have each proposed similar (but not identical) cross-state pipelines that would help achieve those aims. But, assuming that two new pipelines would be overkill, which of the two proposals is the more likely to advance to a final investment decision (FID), construction and operation? In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the two competitors and the state of North Dakota’s impending decision on which pipeline project to support.

Since the early days of the Shale Era — and the RBN blogosphere — we’ve written frequently about the ongoing need to build more midstream infrastructure to serve Bakken production. Crude oil gathering systems and takeaway pipelines. Crude-by-rail terminals. Gas gathering systems and gas processing plants. Natural gas and NGL pipelines. Even now, with Bakken crude oil production holding steady at close to 1.2 MMb/d through most of the 2020s — far below the play’s 1.5-MMb/d peak six years ago — the push to develop more infrastructure continues. There are three primary drivers: (1) a gas-to-oil ratio (GOR) that has more than doubled since the mid-2010s, (2) steadily increasing production of NGLs (see our recently posted Two Gunslingers for more on that); and (3) gas-demand pull from new power generation, data center and industrial projects.

Today, our focus is on gas pipelines — especially two competing proposals to build large-diameter pipelines that would run from the Bakken to the eastern edge of North Dakota. (More on those in a moment.)

The vast majority of the nearly 3.5 Bcf/d produced in the Bakken heads toward the U.S. Midwest via TC Energy and ONEOK’s jointly owned Northern Border Pipeline (dark-yellow line in Figure 1 below), which transports both Western Canadian and Bakken gas. Much smaller volumes of Bakken gas flow into Pembina Pipeline Corp.’s Alliance Pipeline (light-purple line), whose flows are dominated by gas from Western Canada. Note that Alliance transports “rich” or “wet” gas with significant levels of NGLs that are largely removed at Pembina’s 2.1-Bcf/d Aux Sable gas processing complex just west of Chicago.