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One argument I've hard in favor of the split is this: If you are AMD/NVDA/other top player, do you want to send your IP to an Intel owned fab for production?
by steveBK123 2y ago
One argument I've hard in favor of the split is this: If you are AMD/NVDA/other top player, do you want to send your IP to an Intel owned fab for production?
At least in theory, a fully independent, split/spun out standalone fab removes this concern.
That said - what does Intel have to offer the top players here? Their fabs are being state of the art. And what's the standalone value of post-spin fabless Intel if their chip designs are as behind as their fabs?
This certainly presents a conundrum for US policy since we need fabs domestically for national security reasons, but the domestically owned ones are behind.
- KerrAvon 2y agoEh, firewalls can be made strong enough, at least for some things. A software parallel is: you are Apple / Facebook, do you use Azure and/or AWS? I wouldn't, if it were me, but they do.
- steveBK123 2y agoMaybe but I think AWS arguably is a different scale of automation. There’s no Amazon human in the loop looking at your source. Sure a human SRE could peak into your system but that’s something of an exception. I can’t imagine fabs have that level of automation. It’s not like sending a file to your printer. It’s a multi month or year project in some cases to get your design produced. There’s many humans involved surely.
- mnau 2y agoAzure/AWS is cloud/B2B, AAPL/FB are B2C consumer goods/services. Different customers, different industries. There is some overlap, but moat is in other places. AMD/NVIDIA are in same business as Intel and have same pool of customers.