What's going on?

Intel made its way through chip after chip last quarter, and its relentless hours of commitment paid off: the world�s largest microchip-maker reported a powered-up outlook for 2020 late last week, and its shares rose over 7%.

What does this mean?

Intel saw a big rebound in the performance of its data center division, which sells chips to the likes of Amazon, Facebook, and Google. Those tech giants are rushing to build data centers in an effort to meet increasing demand for their cloud services, and they�re using Intel�s most lucrative chips to help them do it (tweet this). And Intel�s old-school PC business also got a boost, as users set about upgrading their computers in the wake of Windows 7�s untimely demise.

But the chipmaker knows it�s just a temporary spike, and that sales to data centers tend to come in fits and starts. That�s why the company is trying to expand to a broader range of markets. And it seems to be paying off: sales at Intel�s Mobileye unit � which makes chips used in self-driving cars � grew 31% last quarter.

Why should I care?

The bigger picture: Amazoned.

While Intel gave an upbeat sales forecast for 2020, it did warn investors about fiercer competition from AMD. The rival chipmaker�s latest data center chips perform better than Intel�s own, and it�s duly beginning to poach market share. But the two might soon have a common enemy familiar to many other industries: Amazon declared war on the chipmaker stalwarts late last year, unveiling its own data center chip.

Zooming out: Stem the slump.

After three consecutive quarters of flat or declining sales, Intel�s recovery provided an encouraging indicator that the microchip sector may well be bouncing back. And this comes after STMicro � Europe�s largest chipmaker � came out with sales that beat even investors� highest estimate last week. That could be a good sign for the global economy: the microchip industry is one of the biggest anchors of business investment.