While its shares have rebounded decently off its Great Recession lows, the past five years haven't been a total success either for semiconductor powerhouse Intel (INTC -9.20%), not by Intel's lofty standards anyway. In fact, Intel has underperformed the tech-weighted Nasdaq by more than 50% over the last five years.
The primary reason for this, of course, is Intel's lack of progress in breaking into the global smartphone and tablet markets in a meaningful way. However, with a recent move, Intel seems like it might be looking past what's quickly becoming yesterday's tech revolution to a budding market that's largely still on the horizon.
Intent Intel
Intel recently made waves when rumor spread that the world's leading semiconductor maker had shelled out somewhere between $100 million and $150 million to acquire smartwatch start-up Basis.
And while some of Intel's more recent technological forays haven't necessarily panned out as originally hoped, this move certainly makes sense on the surface. Basis' technology in many ways appears more advanced than some of its current smartwatch brethren. And in the video below, tech and telecom analyst Andrew Tonner looks at Intel's Basis move and why it makes so much sense for Intel.
