Intel has become a political pawn — but it may not need Trump or a deal with TSMC
>A rumored joint venture between Intel Corp. and its biggest rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. could pose more potential problems than it’s worth, and the U.S. chip giant could actually fare fine without it, Bernstein Research concluded.
>Intel’s stock has risen almost 30% this week alone but was falling Friday morning after those big gains. An hour after trading began, shares were down nearly 5% on the day.
>Bernstein’s Stacy Rasgon attributed most of the stock’s rise this week to a report in Asia of some sort of joint venture with TSMC “to help prop \[Intel\] up” and to the Trump administration’s efforts to bolster a “Made in America” semiconductor agenda, after Vice President J.D. Vance’s comments in Paris this week.
>But a joint venture with TSMC, now the worldwide chip-manufacturing leader, is not necessarily a great idea — and Rasgon pointed to some qualms.
>Digitimes in Asia reported on ways a joint venture between the two chip giants could be formed, and Rasgon summed them up: (1.) having TSMC build a U.S. packaging plant, (2.) a JV in which TSMC would invest in Intel’s manufacturing operations and (3.) TSMC allowing Intel to handle its packaging orders from TSMC’s U.S. customers. Packaging technology refers to the protective casing of chips.
>Rasgon voiced problems with all the options reportedly under discussion, stating in a note that Intel’s forming a joint venture with TSMC, which would also include a technology transfer from TSMC to Intel, does not make sense.
>“We don’t know why TSMC would want to license their process tech and IP (voluntarily at least) to a potential leading edge competitor, unless the terms are very favorable,” Rasgon said in the client note, going on to wonder how much would Intel have to pay. “And frankly, if 18A and the overall process roadmap are as healthy as Intel claims, why do they even need to think about standardizing on TSMC’s process offerings?”
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