Intel eyes TSMC deal to revive foundry business

Intel is trying to stay alive in the chip game, and now it’s knocking on TSMC’s door. According to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. chipmaker has reached out to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company about a possible partnership or cash investment.

The talks are still private, but people familiar with the situation allegedly say both companies have been going back and forth on what a deal might look like.

This push comes right after Bloomberg reported that Intel had also approached Apple, asking if the iPhone maker would consider tossing in some cash. Sources say Intel is offering common stock in exchange. These new developments follow the U.S. government’s decision to buy a 10% stake in Intel, worth $11 billion, using $8.9 billion in CHIPS Act funds.

Nvidia and SoftBank throw money into Intel

Intel’s scramble for outside help didn’t start with the U.S. government. According to WSJ, the outreach began even before President Trump got involved last month. But once Washington bought in, the pace picked up fast. SoftBank injected $2 billion into Intel back in August. Nvidia followed shortly after, dropping $5 billion to grab a 4% stake.

At the center of this storm is Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan. He’s been hustling to line up partners as the company tries to recover from years of missed targets and losing ground to rivals. Intel was once the top name in chips, but now it’s trailing behind Nvidia and AMD in the AI arms race.

The market doesn’t wait, and neither do competitors. Intel knows this, and that’s why it’s trying to make big moves now.

Intel has spent billions trying to build up its contract manufacturing unit, aiming to take on TSMC head-to-head. But the results so far have been weak. Very few outside clients have come onboard, and the business hasn’t posed any real threat to TSMC’s dominance.

Back in April, The Information reported that Intel and TSMC were talking about a joint venture, with TSMC possibly buying a 20% stake in a new company. Those discussions didn’t go far, but now they’re back, and more serious this time.

Intel mixes reliance on TSMC with efforts to rival it

Even though Intel is trying to pull away from TSMC, the two are still tied together in more ways than one. Intel’s next-gen Nova Lake processors are expected to use both its own foundries and some from TSMC. There’s also the co-design project between Intel and Nvidia, any notebook chips that come out of that will likely include some TSMC silicon.

That makes things complicated. On one hand, Intel wants other companies to stop using TSMC and start using its upcoming 14A process tech instead. On the other hand, Intel still depends on TSMC to produce important parts of its own chips. So it’s co-dependence.

But there’s a chance TSMC could see value in investing. If Intel fails, regulators might start eyeing TSMC more closely for being too dominant. If TSMC helps Intel survive, it looks less like a monopoly and more like a responsible player. “There’s a benefit in being seen as a lifeline,” one source said.

The whole situation is starting to look a lot like 1997, when Microsoft handed Apple $150 million just to keep it afloat. History might be repeating; only this time, it’s chips, not computers. And Intel’s been calling everyone who might write a check.

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