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Intel in talks to buy GlobalFoundries for about $30B
- PaulHoule 5y agoExciting. Gloflo could use a boost and intel could use a foundry business.
- mirchiseth 5y agoWow,GF came out of AMD and now going to Intel.
- cm2187 5y agoHow many distinct foundries will be left in the world after this happens?
- stefan_ 5y agoThere is already only Intel, Samsung and TSMC working on next-gen foundries. GlobalFoundries dropped out a while ago.
- abledon 5y agothis seems insane the ENTIRE WORLD depending on TSMC to manufacture computer chips lmao jesus
- paulmd 5y agoAt least TSMC has finally agreed to build a cutting-edge 5nm fab in the US. And more recently this has been increased to 100k wafers per month, so the capacity is much larger than originally planned - TSMC has 120k wafer/month at their plant in Taiwan (Fab 18) so this will almost double the current capacity (although TSMC is building more capacity in Taiwan as well so this probably will work out closer to a 1/3 split of capacity once it's operational). https://electronics360.globalspec.com/article/16465/report-tsmc-plans-to-now-spend-35b-in-arizona-fab https://electronics360.globalspec.com/article/16465/report-t... This has always been national-security leverage for Taiwan - if China ever attacked, Taiwan would make sure TSMC was destroyed and utterly cripple worldwide chipmaking. Like if you think the current shortages are bad imagine the only cutting-edge fab in the world disappearing overnight. That leverage only works if all of TSMC's facilities are in Taiwan so the idea that they would ever agree to build one anywhere else was absolutely unthinkable even a year ago. The US must be playing some serious hardball given the shortages that have sprung up this year and it looks like they're getting results. First it was a little fab for national-security stuff and it's morphed into the US getting a gigafab. On top of that Japan is getting a TSMC specialty fab - not power stuff, but it'll do CMOS sensors for cameras and automotive/embedded type stuff, and the EU is negotiating for a cutting-edge fab of their own. It's a huge sea change in the last year.
- abledon 5y agoyeah it boggles my mind US spends Trillions on Military... yet large % of the chips powering every digital device we use (incl military) is made right next to China. Can you build a chip factory with a fraction of their budget... cmon Long $TSMC i guess
- paulmd 5y agoThe US military actually goes out of its way to source domestic chips where at all possible. Currently this means a lot of Intel (or the older AMD/IBM chips made at GlobalFoundries I suppose), and there is a pretty significant amount of trailing-edge fab capacity in the US still, but you're right that it's not everything and there's some stuff they have to source from other countries. That is actually the consensus reason (not sure it was ever stated outright) for the original plan for the 20k wf/m fab TSMC was building in Arizona (that has since been upgraded to 100k). Even if it wasn't necessarily a huge plant in terms of global supply, it gave the US defense/intelligence community a guaranteed supply of chips with domestic manufacturing and chain of custody. It is nuts just how much of cutting-edge production is concentrated in the pacific rim region there, and the current shortages have really driven that point home even harder. Even leaving aside Chinese invasion of Taiwan, there could be a tsunami or some other natural disaster that takes out TSMC and that would just absolutely gut the worldwide economy. Imagine the current shortages where everything is still running at capacity, and then imagine that TSMC or some other major fab would go offline (Samsung getting hit in Korea, etc), be destroyed and take years to come back online - there are the same limitations as bringing new capacity online, you have to wait years to source new machines from ASML and so on. It potentially could happen anytime. It could happen tomorrow. Just another big earthquake that sends a tsunami at just the wrong place and compounds all the current shortages even worse. Even apart from the national defense aspect, it is a dangerous concentration of irreplaceable supply chain elements and I think the US, EU, etc are really pushing to mitigate that danger a bit.
- FL33TW00D 5y agohttps://semianalysis.com/globalfoundries-is-a-leading-edge-foundry-despite-claims-otherwise/ https://semianalysis.com/globalfoundries-is-a-leading-edge-f...
- ThrowawayR2 5y ago532. (No, really. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_semiconductor_fabrication_plants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_semiconductor_fabricat... )
- MangoCoffee 5y agoon the high end, Intel, Samsung and TSMC
- Roritharr 5y agoWhy would they buy them if they've stopped developing 7nm 3 years ago? How far behind is Intel really?
- detaro 5y agoNot everything is made in the newest processes. Upgrading existing fabs to newer processes has benefits over building new ones. GF might have useful experience, e.g. with being a contract fab for others, if Intel wants to go that route.
- Roritharr 5y agoSo would this purchase point towards Intel believing they either can make up the process advantage of TSMC, or that they don't need to? Genuinely curious what you think.
- colinmhayes 5y agoI don't think this has anything to do with next gen process. It points toward Intel needing help starting their foundry service in sales and external tooling.
- MangoCoffee 5y agoagree. Intel buy GlobalFoundries gain nothing for high end chip. its probably have to do with Intel IDM 2.0
- detaro 5y agoI don't think it's related to making up the difference or not. GF won't have much if anything that helps them in that regard, so I think it mostly means that Intel thinks they can use more capacity of their own, even for not top-end process.
- eropple 5y agoMultiple American fabs--older nodes, but there's still plenty of stuff to be made on 14nm, let alone 90nm. Patents. A sales-pipeline team used to working with external partners instead of doing everything in-house.
- cwizou 5y agoThat's a bit surprising (if not ironic) but I think it may make sense in a way. It's been pretty clear that Mudabala (an Abu Dhabi fund that bought AMD fabs in 2008 which then became GlobalFoundries) wanted to unload that investment after they stopped shoving money into failed process developments (GloFo licensed their 14nm from Samsung as a reminder after their own 14 failed, and their 7nm failed too), so no surprise on their end. From Intel's perspective, there are also some US assets from IBM, which GloFo "acquired" in 2014 (for -1.5 billion at the time), which includes some oldish US fabs, but also a patent portfolio. It certainly goes into the current US political narrative that Gelsinger has been pushing. But perhaps more importantly, I think that what Intel is buying is what was sorely lacking them : people and a methodology of working with external customers. From all I've heard over the years, Intel's process and design teams are so insular and out of touch with the rest of the industry's practices that they had a terrible time just working with customers. It wasn't pretty when they tried the two previous time to open up their process. Loads of announcements, few products if any coming out, and when it worked, they ended up buying their customers anyway, see Altera. If Intel truly wants to go in the foundry direction, they'll get some interesting outside experience, and while it may not make sense from a pure process point of view, considering how much of a sore point their inability to make it work has been on their previous attempts, the idea may have a lot of merit. Perhaps a very smart move from Gelsinger, time will tell, in the meantime I'll have a laugh at Intel buying AMD's old fabs :)
- lizknope 5y ago> assets from IBM, which GloFo "acquired" in 2014 (for -1.5 billion at the time) You used the term "acquired" along with a minus sign in front of 1.5 billion but just in case other people don't get the joke, IBM gave their fabs to Global Foundries and PAID them $1.5 billion to take them.
- _delirium 5y agoFor what it's worth, IBM is suing to try to get its $1.5 billion back, claiming that GlobalFoundries didn't uphold terms of the deal: https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2021/06/11/ibm-sues-globalfoundries-breach-contract-semiconductor-spat-essex-junction-microelectronics-vt/7652597002/ https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2021/06/11/ib...
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- rektide 5y agoWow. This is the chipmaking side of AMD that got spun off in 2009. I didn't realize they still had a sizable US presence. Malta NY (14nm fab) & outside of Burlington VT (90nm fab). The largest employer in VT! Also Singapore & Dresden (12nm). Supposedly they were going to try to go public. To be honest I have a hard time understanding what's in this purchase for Intel, hard to see this as anything but anti-competitive, but Intel is trying to become a silicon foundry to others & GF knows how to do that. They also have a decent patent warchest. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlobalFoundries https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlobalFoundries
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- blihp 5y agoThe purchase would both increase Intel's manufacturing capacity and pricing power. There used to be half a dozen x86 manufacturers and I'm sure they've enjoyed having it down to two (especially when one of them was weak) much more. What's not to love, from their perspective?
- Someone1234 5y agoThat they'd be increasing capacity in non-cutting edge fabrication, which doesn't really move the needle for Intel's current position. If the argument is facilities and staff, that's fine. But buying an outdated fab that won't compete with TSM isn't that big of a game changer, Intel already has tons of that.
- digikata 5y agoFor non power sensitive embedded parts it makes a lot of sense - at least to the point that the pricing could be worked out with customers that want long term high volume commitments.
- barbacoa 5y agoBecause there is still big money in old nodes. Half of TSMC's revenue last quarter was from nodes >14nm. https://www.anandtech.com/show/16621/tsmc-q1-2021-process-node-revenue-more-7nm-no-more-20nm https://www.anandtech.com/show/16621/tsmc-q1-2021-process-no... Even Nvidia's RTX 3080TI is on an optimized version of Samsung's 10 nm node.
- lambdasquirrel 5y agoNow we’ll see if the Biden Administration’s anti-trust stance has any bite in it.
- anonuser123456 5y agoSemiconductor manufacturing is a strategic asset. Antitrust will not apply.
- exikyut 5y agoI wonder if browser engines are a strategic asset? [Gestures at IE vs Netscape] [Gestures at Chromebooks which 99% of population never run Edge or Firefox on] (Yes, "the fight" is between Google and Apple now, but still...)
- wumpus 5y agoIntel doesn't have much of a foundry business -- they build for themselves -- so if anything this increases competition in the foundry business, if Intel follows up by letting GloFo customers use Intel's best fabs.
- MikeUt 5y agoFewer independent companies increase competition? Sounds like something out of a corporate press release.
- wumpus 5y agoIntel's market share in the foundry business currently rounds to zero. So no, it's not fewer independent companies in the foundry business, it's the same number, and now the underdog will have access to better fabs. http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=63174 http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=6...
- MikeUt 5y ago
- detaro 5y agoI wonder what the state and terms of long-running contracts are there, and if this could end up with Intel fulfilling old fab contracts for AMD... (As far as I know, AMD always held long contracts, partially with exclusivity, with GF for fabrication, although this has weakened due GF falling behind and not meeting its promised process targets)
- cwizou 5y agoApparently AMD still had a Wafer Supply Agreement, last renegotiated in may, that may be a bit weird indeed... See here : https://www.hpcwire.com/2021/05/13/amd-and-globalfoundries-commit-to-1-6-billion-wafer-agreement/ https://www.hpcwire.com/2021/05/13/amd-and-globalfoundries-c... My understading is that AMD only used said contract for the I/O part of their chips or some entry level GPUs, as they moved the CPU cores to TMSC. I'm unclear on their current APU lineup.
- paulmd 5y agoAMD is also rumored to be backporting Zen3 and RDNA2 to GloFo 12+ for some low-end APU products, presumably due to cost - TSMC 7nm is quite expensive which makes it less appropriate for a certain segment of price-sensitive products. https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-monet-12nm-zen3-apu-and-bergamo-epyc-128-core-cpu-make-an-appearance-in-latest-rumors https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-monet-12nm-zen3-apu-and-berg...
- jeffbee 5y agoThe only thing that comes to mind is that IBM is suing GloFo for their utter failure to advance the process and fulfill their orders.
- Cyph0n 5y agoInteresting how GF isn’t even aware of the talks. I guess Mubadala wants to offload GF quickly?
- MangoCoffee 5y agoprobably GF have been bleeding for years.
- lizknope 5y agoIntel wants to get into the foundry business. 99% of what Intel does is for their own chips. They don't have the support infrastructure of being able to deal with external customers. Global Foundries has that. You don't just decide to make a chip. There are hundreds of foundry specific libraries, design rules, and more. There are always problems with the EDA CAD tools for new processes and you need lots of support people to answer questions and help debug problems that your customers are having. Intel has tried being a foundry before multiple times over the last 20 years. They always fail and give up after a couple of years.
- Seanambers 5y agoIf Intel ends up buying AMD's (former) business, then damn the tables have turned. Considering the way things are going I am more than a bit intrigued, but not surprised.
- 9front 5y agoI am waiting for the headline "AMD to buy Intel!"
- m-p-3 5y agoThat would be a terrible outcome competition-wise :(
- Moto7451 5y agoGiven Intel wants to sell fab space it wouldn’t shock me if AMD keeps buying fab space at a soon to be Intel plant to make chipsets and other items that don’t need to be on the bleeding edge or constitute sharing much IP.
- grp000 5y agoAnd Nvidia buys ARM, which is then bought by AMD-Intel, which then merges with Samsung.
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- Buraksr 5y agoI think that this is a really interesting move by Intel. The conspiracy theorist in me thinks this is an interesting way for Intel to get at TSMC. A few years back there was a cross licensing agreement between TSMC and GlobalFoundries. The agreement is broad, and covers all patents made by TSMC for the next 9 years [1]. It is easy to see how many problems this could create for TSMC. Either the deal is void, in which case TSMC is and has been likely infringing on Global Foundries' (with an acquisition Intel's) patents... Or Intel has a broad cross licensing agreement with TSMC... The deal was good for TSMC at the time, as Global Foundries had given up on more advanced nodes as the investment was just too much for their shareholders, but with new ownership I see it as an interesting weakness. Intel has historically been willing to play dirty, like messing with compilers to benefit Intel over Amd[2]. Or like when they gave kickbacks to OEMS [2]. Or when they paid vendors to not support AMD fully in software[2]. Or just plain old false advertising [2]. Actions like these is what led to a 1.25 Billion dollar settlement with AMD [3]. Outside of playing dirty, it is a good strategic move for their new foundry business. You get the tools, know how, processes, and most importantly customers that can make the venture a success. Intel has had a foundry business before [4], but they closed it. "ecosystem is everything with the foundry business and that takes time, money, and technical intimacy," [4]. Intel has money, and they are buying the years in the foundry business they missed along with technical intimacy to more standard tools. So, I think it makes sense from a business perspective, as it gives Intel a recurring revenue for its older processes and in turn greater advantage from its vertical integration. [1] https://www.anandtech.com/show/15038/globalfoundries-and-tsmc-sign-broad-crosslicensing-agreement-dismiss-lawsuits https://www.anandtech.com/show/15038/globalfoundries-and-tsm... [2]https://www.anandtech.com/show/3839/intel-settles-with-the-ftc https://www.anandtech.com/show/3839/intel-settles-with-the-f... [3] https://www.cnet.com/news/intel-to-pay-amd-1-25-billion-in-antitrust-settlement/ https://www.cnet.com/news/intel-to-pay-amd-1-25-billion-in-a... [4] https://semiwiki.com/semiconductor-manufacturers/intel/7912-intel-discontinues-the-custom-foundry-business/ https://semiwiki.com/semiconductor-manufacturers/intel/7912-...
- csdreamer7 5y agoNow this is some good insight on why Intel would buy GF. That cross-licensing deal alone I can see being very useful for Intel as they push in to EUV.
- neonate 5y agoWSJ source: https://archive.is/URtJX https://archive.is/URtJX
- animal_spirits 5y ago> Intel, one of the last companies in the semiconductor industry that both designs and manufactures its own chips What other companies also do this? Are Nvidia, and AMD on this list?
- stu2b50 5y agoNo, neither manufactures chips. They both have a variety of fabs they get supply from, but Nvidia gets much of their supply from Samsung (but they do also source from TSMC and others) and AMD gets much of their supply from TSMC.
- jagger27 5y ago> What other companies also do this? Are Nvidia, and AMD on this list? No and no. IBM (for Power products) and arguably Samsung (for their mobile chips) are effectively the only ones left on their own leading edge nodes. Everyone else uses TSMC, GloFo, or SMIC.
- Denvercoder9 5y agoIBM doesn't have its own fabs anymore -- they gave them to GlobalFoundries in 2015, along with $1.5B.
- BostonEnginerd 5y agoI would have taken the fabs for half of that! :-)
- GloriousKoji 5y agoWhat semiconductors are we talking about? Just big volume computer CPUs/GPUs? Then yes, intel is the only one left. Big boys like Maxim, Marvel, Broadcom, Qualcomm, nVidia, AMD, Ti[1] don't have their own fabs. What about memory? Samsung, Hynix, Micron all do their own stuff. Analog ICs? National, Ti[1], NXP, Skyworks, ONsemi, ST, to name a few. [1] Ti got rid of their fabs years ago to switch to TSMC but over the years they acquired a few companies small than them that have their own fabs. Those divisions still use them for fabbing those products.
- totalZero 5y agoConsidering that AMD's flagship chips use GloFo i/o, this is a brilliant move. It will be interesting to see how the equity market absorbs these developments.
- taspeotis 5y agoIt feels like AMD was already stepping away: https://www.anandtech.com/show/16677/amd-and-globalfoundries-update-wafer-share-agreement-through-2024 https://www.anandtech.com/show/16677/amd-and-globalfoundries... > AMD will see out its existing commitment to use GlobalFoundries through 2024, with the latest amendment setting purchase targets for 2022, 2023, and 2024. Beyond those new targets, however, the agreement releases AMD from all further exclusivity commitments to GlobalFoundries. AMD is now free to use any fab on any process node that it wants.
- totalZero 5y agoThey traded exclusivity for a minimum order size. I'm not sure I would read that negotiation as setting a sunset date on their overall relationship at the end of 2024, and I definitely wouldn't read it as AMD being totally free prior to 2025. 1.6B is half a quarter's revenue for AMD. Milan has been a slam dunk; there's obviously some value over at GloFo for AMD, and it wouldn't be a no-tears breakup (hypothetically speaking). I don't dispute that GloFo's role in AMD's strategy will necessarily change if it becomes part of Intel.
- coliveira 5y agoAnother reason why this deal should be blocked by the government. It is anticompetitiveness at its core.
- totalZero 5y agoIf I were Intel and a deal were really in the works contingent on antitrust, I would argue that: (a) Intel is a distant third in fabrication and a merger with another also-ran would improve competitiveness against state-backed TSMC and the Samsung chaebol; (b) the severity of the demand creation in the market justifies an acquisition that streamlines existing players and makes them more productive than the sum of the deal's parts; and (c) bringing GloFo under a US-owned corporate umbrella is vastly beneficial to the national interest in a way that only Intel can fully enable.
- 9front 5y agoIt's not a done deal! Intel is just exploring a deal to buy GlobalFoundries. This is from the WSJ article: "It isn’t guaranteed one will come together, and GlobalFoundries could proceed with a planned initial public offering."
- sitkack 5y agoI don't think this should be allowed. Intel is entered the public fab market with an insane amount of production capacity, they shouldn't also be allowed to gobble up the 3rd place industry supplier.
- markzzerella 5y agoOf course it will happen, it was funded (directly or indirectly) with public money[1]. The only thing that surprises me is that I expected the ink to dry before they used my money to buy their competition. 1: https://www.sinema.senate.gov/fueled-sinemas-chips-act-intel-announces-expansion-bringing-thousands-jobs-arizona https://www.sinema.senate.gov/fueled-sinemas-chips-act-intel...
- px1999 5y agoThat's certainly one way to get the expertise that they need in house to remain competitive (and to ensure their own supply) - certainly if rumors about their current capabilities being less than stellar are correct. It'll be an interesting move if it comes through to fruition. TBH this would ironically probably be a good thing for Taiwan and may be a good thing for TSMC. It is somewhat amusing that they're picking up AMD's scraps.
- ac29 5y agoBut, GloFo isnt competitive as is - their best process is a "12nm" process they licensed from Samsung 5 years ago. The only way this makes sense to me is if they are getting such a good deal on their assets that its cheaper to buy them and modernize their plants with Intel's technology than to build new plants of their own.
- halotrope 5y agoAs far as I understand the leading edge nodes are a rather small percentage of global production. The demand for less advanced nodes is still massive e.g for automotive. For intel the know how of working for 3rd party clients along with the tooling is probably much more valuable.
- phkahler 5y agoI would hope this is blocked simply due to the reduction in competition. Number one player should not be buying anyone. OTOH my impression was that GloFo stopped short of EUV due to the cost, not that they couldn't do it. Intel might be able to fix that, but I think they're probably going the way of IBM.
- ike77 5y agoBut not having any of the players able to stand up to TSMC is also not good for competition. Allowing smaller market participants to consolidate to face the behemoth is not necessarily going to be perceived as anti-competitive.
- phkahler 5y ago>> Allowing smaller market participants to consolidate to face the behemoth is not necessarily going to be perceived as anti-competitive. Intel is not small by any measure. Now TI and GloFlo, or some other pairing I might agree with.
- andrewclunn 5y agoGolablism killed anti-trust. If you don't aid your nation's mega corp, then they'll lose to another nation's when they receive preferential treatment. It's economic warfare and we're all fascists (in the sense of public private partnerships with regulations turning large corporations into extensions of the state for security means) now.
- markzzerella 5y agoNice to see that the $52bbn in tax money from the chips act is being used for consolidation of industries. Blatant corruption and nobody even cares.
- coliveira 5y agoYou're correct. They received a ton of money from government [0], and that money will be used for consolidation, not to improve competitiveness. Intel is buying a bunch of outdated fabs to increase its pricing power on older technology. [0] https://www.semiconductors.org/chips/ https://www.semiconductors.org/chips/
- Jonanin 5y agoThis comment is wrong on nearly every front. 1) No money has been received. USICA ($52b number) has not even been passed through congress yet. 2) 12nm is hardly “outdated”, not every use case requires the most cutting edge node. There is plenty of value to be had at that process size. 3) There is more to running a foundry than process size, and Intel is likely interested as much/more in the customer relationship parts, as elaborated extensively in other threads
- thunkshift1 5y agoAirline bailouts? Bank bailouts? Internet provider subsidies? Anything goes in pharma?
- coldacid 5y agoAmerica, the corporate welfare state.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- totalZero 5y agoThe $52b comes from USICA and it hasn't passed the House yet as far as I know. Please correct me if I'm wrong. What are they supposed to do, not compete during the heyday of their industry because they expect a tax credit to be paid out over the next several years?
- BuckRogers 5y agoI don’t invest in Intel, but I am bullish on their prospects in general. I love that they are an American company that has large production facilities in the US. I would have no qualms with increasing government aid and subsidies to them. I’m rooting for them to succeed. But I do follow the Warren Buffett methodology. I personally have had very good experiences with most Intel products. So that positive experience may color my views a little bit. It’s like all of my friends that have owned Toyota products, it’s almost universally a good experience from what I can tell. I wish Toyota was also an American company.
- ffffwe3rq352y3 5y agoFrom what I've seen Intel has not been nice to consumers or smart with their chips so far. For many years they just pumped the prices with mediocre processors because of their dominance. However, now the tables have turned and AMD is crushing them almost everywhere! I feel like they get what they deserve for being lazy and not innovating and we shouldn't reward that.
- BuckRogers 5y agoThat hasn't been my experience as a consumer. I've had 4 Ryzen systems over the last 4 years (owned nearly every generation), and also my Intel systems. My experience has been less "crushing Intel" and more "crushing me" and my time. From what I've experienced, the price increases in Intel platforms are just from added quality assurance in their engineering. Obviously I wanted my Zen, Zen+, and Zen3 systems to work well but they all had something ranging from weird idiosyncrasy to major flaw. I just sold off my last Zen3, as I greatly prefer my 11th gen board and chip. That's just my experience and my perspective at this point. Other people seem to love them so there's a market for everything.
- ffffwe3rq352y3 5y agoYeah I'm really only talking about processing power! I don't own as many computer as you do so you might have a more accurate experiences with that.
- a_zaydak 5y agoWonder if this will go under Intel Federal since GlobalFoundries is the only US foundry able to do some DoD work.
- tus89 5y agoWell I guess AMD is starting to fab at TSMC so this is not a big as deal as it sounds (although in $$ terms it certainly is).
- yvdriess 5y agoTheir IO chiplets are still produced by GloFo, who has been carving out a niche in IO. It's a good strategy for GloFo, as driving a signal for IO can safely stay on older process nodes, it doesn't scale as well as compute or memory with transistor density.
- MangoCoffee 5y agoif Intel want to get into the foundry business with IDM 2.0. Intel should buy number 3 (UMC) instead. at least UMC is profitable unlike GF. https://static.designandreuse.com/img20/20201207c_1.jpg https://static.designandreuse.com/img20/20201207c_1.jpg
- Traster 5y agoI would not be surprised if the strategic thinking here is to buy GloFo to get in some outside business and the knowledge about how to run a fab as a service in preparation for spinning the foundry out as a separate business. That way it allows the foundry to scale to the size it needs to be to justify investing in the latest nodes, whilst freeing up the rest of Intel to run much leaner and not to be tied to an uncompetitive foundry.
- jarym 5y agoAhh classic. If you have tons of cash and fading dominance just buy up some other market players and screw ‘em up real good (in corporate terms). At least that’s typically how these things go. I hope it’s different ‘this’ time.
- TazeTSchnitzel 5y agoSemiconductor manufacturing is already scarily consolidated. This can't be good.
- dublin 5y agoWell, that's going to make AMD reconsider the wisdom of spinning off its fab biz as GF, now isn't it?
- Goety 5y agoNut. This is exciting in more ways than one and I hope it works out.