- Intel currently does not have a CEO and its future seems unclear
- TSMC and Broadcom are interested in separate areas of the chips manufacturer business
- Any agreement faces great obstacles: government rules, factory reorganization and political setback
Although he debuted some super fast chips in 2024 in an attempt to match his rival AMD, Intel is not the power it used to be.
While Nvidia is the second largest company in the world (behind Apple) for market capitalization, with a value of $ 3.4 billion, and AMD is in 80º place, with a value of $ 183.27 billion, Intel, currently without An CEO after Pat Gelsinger in December 2024, is languishing in 173 in $ 102.18 billion, placing it between Río Río and Airbnb
This has led to all kinds of rumors surrounding Intel’s future, including the speculation that it could fuse with the old AMD smelting, Globalfoundries, in a possible multimillionaire agreement. But now, perhaps the saddest news of all comes from a new Wall Street Journal Report, which says that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and Broadcom are considering separately the agreements that could divide the iconic chips manufacturer in half.
Great obstacles to overcome
The report states that Broadcom has been “examining the design of Intel Chips and Marketing” and, according to people familiar with the matter, “has informally discussed with its advisors making an offer, but probably only do it if you find a Partner for Intel’s manufacturing business, people said. “
At the same time, TSMC is considering taking control of Intel chip plants (some or all), a movement that was apparently suggested by the Trump administration. However, the WSJ A White House official told him that the president is “unlikely to support an agreement that involved a foreign entity that operated the Intel factories”, so do that what he will do.
He WSJ Stress Broadcom and TSMC have not been associated to carve Intel in two, these are unrelated possibilities, and all conversations so far are “preliminary and largely informal.”
There are a couple of obstacles on the way to such agreement. The 2022 Chips Law created a subsidy program of $ 53 billion to boost the production of national chips, with Intel receiving the highest share, up to $ 7.9 billion. As a condition of the funds, the chips manufacturer must retain a majority participation in its factories if they are ever divided into a separate entity. The United States government would also have to approve any agreement that involves TSMC or other investors that take control of Intel facilities.
He WSJ He also points out that any agreement faces operational problems, noting that Intel factories have been largely established to produce Intel chips, and the company has only begun to try to make chips for external customers in recent years. “Withdrawing Intel factories to make advanced TSMC chips would be a significant and expensive engineering challenge,” he adds.
