Intel Foundry Shake-Up: TSMC Proposes Shared Takeover With Chip Giats
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has offered a share in its proposed acquisition of Intel’s Chip Foundries to Nvidia, Broadcom, and AMD, Sources Told Reuters. The taiwanese chipmaker intends to oversee the operations of intelly’s fab division, but aims to retain less than 50% ownership and is seeking multiple partners for the deal.
Intel’s Reluctance and Internal Divisions
According to the anonymous sources, intel does not want to sell its chip design house separately from the foundry division, which manufactures custom chips for its customers. Intel Executives are also also divided on where striking is a good idea.
Last month, it was reported that tsmc and broadcom was considering splitting the US company’s manufacturing and design arms between them. Intel’s Factories Alredy Operate Somewhat Independently; Since 2022, they have taken orders from outside customers and in-House at equal priority.
Challenges in Potential TSMC-Intel Partnership
TSMC has its own demands when it cames to the joint venture, as it Wants any potential investors to also be Intel Advanced-Manufacturing Customers. It did pitch to Qualcomm in the Early Stages, but the company has an insurance exited discusations, sources said.
See: Qualcomm, Intel, and Others Form Ambient Iot Coalition
The sources added that any manufacturing partnership between tsmc and intelly would be different and costly in practice, as they use very differential processes, materials, and tool setups vhen making theirs. Managing Trade Secrets Between the two companies would be Pose another significant hurdle.
Intel, TSMC, NVIDIA, AMD, and Qualcomm Declined Reuters’ Requests for comment, while the white house and broadcom did not respond.
The pitch to nvidia, broadcom, and amd was reportedly made before TSMC Announced Earlier this month that it would invest an additional $ 100 billion billion billing data centers in the us, bringing Total Spending to $ 160 Billion. It dubbed this the “Larget Single Foreign Direct Investment in Us History.”
Trump is at the helm of the joint venture
Us President Donald Trump Encouched TSMC to Assist in Pulling Intel Out of Its Slump, According to the Reuters sourcesBy Taking Over some of Intel’s Us Chipmaking Factories. He is keen to review the former us manufacturing icon with strengthening domestic production, so he does not want any part of intel to be fully foreign-off, the sources added.
See: Trump Calls for Chips Act Repeal, Slams ‘Horrible’ Subsidies
Intel’s Decline Amid Industry Shift
Intel used to be a giant in the cpu industry, but the ai boom and a failure to strategize in a way that benefits from current trends have led to Struggles. Intel is unusual among its rivals in that it has not focused soly on eater manufacturing or designing chips; As a result, it has seen its chip-making endeavors eclipsed by tsmc.
The us manufacturing icon also had some struggles with quality in 2024, leading to it reporting it is the first net loss since 1986 and dropping from first to second on Gartner’s list of top global semaster vendors by revneue growth.
