Intel is the only hope for relatively short-term microprocessor fabrication on the continent.
TSMC is trying to do fabs here but that's going to take ages to scale.
The real question is, how do you subsidize this sort of development from scratch while not hamstringing or ignoring already developed abilities. For promoting advanced chip fab inside of the US, intel is america's best bet.
The only other option would have been AMD, but they closed their on-shore fabs like two decades ago afaicr.
For strategic reasons, TSMC is also not doing their latest and greatest technology nodes in the US. They don't want the US marching into the fab and handing the secrets to Intel in case of a "national security emergency."
The AMD option is already called "global foundries" for good reason. IBM is also out of the chip fabrication business, having sold their assets to GloFo.
They didn't, they simply sold off their fabs to a bunch of hedge funds and it became GlobalFoundries. It's still around, produces chips in the US, and was given a big defense contract just last year: https://gf.com/gf-press-release/u-s-government-awards-global...
Nationalize the company and return all profits to the taxpayers. For national security. But that would be crazy! Too socialist. We can’t have that kind of authoritarianism. Only the kind that subsidizes shareholders and CEOs.
Right, only for the most recent year. They've had declining profits for the last few years.
The CHIPS act gives handouts to companies like Intel ostensibly to contribute to national defense by creating domestic production of chips used in military equipment. However this will also aid Intel in its commercial enterprises not just contracts with the military. And to the extent it does, those profits won't be realized by the taxpayers that funded them.
Taxpayers should receive equity for funding privately held companies. Alternatively, if we don't want to encroach on the sacred profits of our dear corporations, the government could require that chip manufacturing has to occur in the US without capitalizing them. That way chip manufacturing remains in the US and the market can bear the risk and reward of chip ventures.
> As of Sep 28th, 2024, we were authorized to repurchase up to $110.0 billion, of which $7.24 billion remain available. We have repurchased 5.77 billion shares at a cost of $152.05 billion since the program began in 1990.
No, it's really not a reward. The government is doing this because they believe it's in the best interests of the country. It's not because of any opinion they have about whether Intel is a good or bad company.
The goal here isn't to make companies more virtuous. It is to change the landscape of an industry in a way that will protect the United States.
Why would this random deal of all things tip any scale for Trump? He's not some unknown quantity that's opposed to this kind of thing, he had tons of similar efforts, many of which crashed and burned.. https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/foxconn-plant...
Yeah, lack of money is rarely the problem for these behemoths, it’s lack of will or motivation.
To that end, I wish the government just said, we’ve deemed you a provider of essential goods, find a way to get your company to invest onshore, or we will find a way to get your company to invest onshore, your choice.
I know, I know, slippery slope, but it’d be great if we could do this instead of giving them taxpayer money in this way - in the long, long term it’s good for the country, but in the short term it’s good for their stock.
> To that end, I wish the government just said, we’ve deemed you a provider of essential goods, find a way to get your company to invest onshore, or we will find a way to get your company to invest onshore, your choice.
Because some things are just too important to pay for honestly?
Now, we're rewarding them with 7.9B of our taxpayer dollars.
This is just disgusting. I'm a liberal, but how are people surprised that Trump won?