Intel and TSMC are discussing a possible association that, if specified, could Transform the world chips manufacturing panorama. The potential agreement that analysts have brought to light from The Wall Street Journal It would occur in a context of growing pressure from the US government, with its president at the head, to boost the national production of chips.
TSMC is the first foundrie World Income and Technological Capacity. The main world chips manufacturer at the commission of third parties, would be a sensational partner for any company. Especially for an Intel that goes through the most convulsive moments of its dilate history and needs a great revulsion so that its Intel Foundry manufacturing business is viable.
The pressure of “Trump 2.0”
During the electoral campaign of US presidential, Trump accused Taiwan of “Stole the American chips business”in reference to the dominant position of TSMC in the production of state -of -the -art chips for important technology companies such as Apple and Nvidia. The candidate expressed his discontent with the situation, where an important part of the manufacture of advanced chips is done in Taiwan.
Once chosen, Trump has returned to the load: «At present, practically everything is manufactured in Taiwan. A little in South Korea. But everything, almost everything, is manufactured in Taiwan, a country that snatched our chips business, ”Trump told journalists. «We had Intel, we had these big companies that did so well. They snatched it. And we want to recover that business. We want it back in the United States ».
As “incentive”, the Trump administration has threatened to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent to the processors manufactured abroad. A measure that, frequently used as an economic incentive to force foreign suppliers to manufacture in the country and/or bend in geopolitical issues, puts in the target the Asian producing countries such as Taiwan, South Korea or China, although they are feared that ends impacting on all world technology with a generalized Price increase.
In response, TSMC has already taken measures to increase its presence in the United States. The Taiwanese company approved an additional investment of 17,000 million dollars last week to boost its chip production, and an important part of this investment will be allocated to its operations in the United States.
The company’s first factory in Arizona is already finished and the production of chips has begun using the 4 Nanometers process of TSMC. Although much of its chips manufacture, including its most advanced processes, it is still done in Taiwan, the foundry giant up to 65,000 million dollars in three factories in the American state.
Intel and TSMC, complicated alliance, technically and strategically
According to WJS analysts, there have been conversations about a possible agreement in which TSMC would send engineers to one of the advanced Intel chips factories. The objective of this collaboration would be to apply the TSMC experience and guarantee the viability of the technological processes of Intel production. It should be remembered that a part of the corporate problems that Intel suffers today derives from the serious complications of the jump to the 10 nanometers processes and with it the delay in the distribution of chips.
The proposed association could adopt an even more substantial way, with the possibility of splitting the factory and turning it into a New joint property entity of Intel and TSMC. This new company would be operated by TSMC and could receive financing from the United States Chips Law.
Approved by President Biden in 2022, he allocated 280,000 million dollars in funds for high -tech research, development and manufacturing in the United States. Although Trump described the chip and science law as a «Ridiculo program» And he argued that companies do not need money, but incentives to build in the United States (“The incentive will not want to pay a tax of 25, 50 or even 100 percent”), Intel was assigned more than 8,000 million dollars.
In any case and although there is no official confirmation of this alliance between Intel and TSMC, there is no doubt that The measure makes sense Beyond the pressures of the White House. Especially for Intel, since the objective of promoting its manufacturing division was already in the spotlight of the previous CEO of Intel and aims to be the exit to solve its delicate previous situation.
If society is specified, Intel would benefit from an important relief of cash flow and focus on its design and platform solutions, while a viable factory could finally attract key companies and diversify geodependent manufacturing models.
It is more complicated to glimpse the supposed benefits for TSMC. And it has always been a neutral company dedicated to producing chips for third parties And an agreement with Intel, although it could transform the worldwide chips manufacturing panorama, it would also complicate its relationship with its competitors, be it Nvidia, Qualcomm or AMD. We will see.
