Any kind of research and development project is a calculated risk that the effort will yield a worthwhile result. All of the top contenders poured a lot of mon

Any kind of research and development project is a calculated risk that the effort will yield a worthwhile result. All of the top contenders poured a lot of money and high-caliber talent in their next generation fab R&D and TSMC's approach paid off the best and Intel's (some say more aggressive but riskier) approach turned out to be a dead end causing them to have to scramble to recover. But it was always a gamble that could have turned out badly for any of them.