That's exactly what the article actually says, that stock buybacks have not (yet) hindered Intel's ability to invest in R&D, and the problems are elsewhere: "G

That's exactly what the article actually says, that stock buybacks have not (yet) hindered Intel's ability to invest in R&D, and the problems are elsewhere: "Given the availability of these sources of funds, the vast sums that Intel has wasted on buybacks have not thus far imposed a cash constraint on its investments in semiconductor fabrication. Rather, it has been a deficiency in organizational learning—the essence of the innovation process—that has hampered Intel’s implementation of process technology. The generation of high levels of productivity from P&E and R&D expenditures requires, as a second social condition of innovative enterprise, organizational integration, working in combination with financial commitment. Organizational integration mobilizes the skills and efforts of large numbers of people in a hierarchical and functional division of labor into the collective and cumulative learning processes required to transform technologies to generate a higher-quality product and, then, access markets to attain economies of scale." ... "Accepting stock yield as the measure of enterprise performance, in recent years Intel’s senior executives who exercise strategic control have lacked both the incentive and, increasingly we would argue, the ability, to implement innovative investment strategies through organizational integration.” [1]:https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27783913 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27783913