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BOSTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Daniel Loebcalled Intel's resources "unmatched" in the semiconductorindustry and said his firm, Third Point, is "excited" to be along-term investor.

Loeb updated Third Point's clients on progress at Intelin a letter seen by Reuters. Less than eight weeks agohe pushed the company to attract fresh talent, keep its bestpeople, and explore deal options.

Last month the company said Pat Gelsinger, who had worked atIntel decades ago, would return as Chief Executive after runningVMware.

Loeb heaped fresh praise on the new CEO in the letter afterhaving tweeted about it last month.

"It is hard to think of a better person to motivate andinspire the best of Intel’s thousands of brilliant employees whowill help build the company’s future," he wrote about Gelsingeron Wednesday.

Gelsinger will have to align the company's human, financialand intellectual property resources, which will put Intel inline to "capture the full unbounded growth of this marketopportunity," the letter said.

Loeb was similarly enthusiastic about insurer Prudential Plc, saying the Asia franchise is "substantiallyundervalued" but praising two leaders for making positivechanges.

Loeb staged a dramatic rebound in returns last year, whenhis Third Point Offshore Fund ended 2020 with a 20.5% gain.

He managed to sidestep much of January's market volatilitywith a 1.9% gain. His firm employs a wide variety of investmentstyles including investing in stocks and debt and activism.

Loeb said he sidesteps positions where many investors arealready betting against the future of a company.

"We have mostly avoided taking short stakes in companieswith modest liquidity and large short interest," he wrote only afew days after millions of small investors sent retailerGameStop's stock surging 1,700%, hurting a number ofprominent hedge funds that had bet the stock would fall.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-BaylissEditing by Chris Reese and Bill Berkrot)