First-order effects

• PC makers get a demand signal from their largest supplier: Intel's own order book says the freefall has stopped, which de-risks inventory rebuilds heading into the second half.
• AMD and Nvidia now face an Intel entering the upturn with fresh quad-core Nehalem parts launching next week, right as buyers start spending again.

Second-order effects

• Component suppliers across the PC chain see order books firm up behind Intel's read, and Nvidia's position grows more exposed — Intel's February suit in Delaware alleges Nvidia lacks the rights to tie its GPUs to certain future Intel CPUs, a fight whose stakes rise with every point of recovered volume.
• Netbooks look like the contested growth segment of the recovery, which is why Intel filed suit against Psion in March over the 'netbook' trademark itself.

Third-order effects

• If the bottom holds, the downturn's lasting effect is consolidation: the manufacturers that kept spending through the trough — Intel's $7 billion commitment being the largest visible example — convert counter-cyclical capex into share once demand returns.
• Semiconductor earnings reassert themselves as the market's leading indicator for consumer electronics demand, with each Intel print read as a proxy for the whole hardware chain.