Intel doesn't know how to be a foundry," Tim Cook reportedly told TSMC's CEO

Re:Intel doesn't know how to be a foundry," Tim Cook reporte... by BeetleB on Wednesday January 29, 2025 @02:12PM (#42869678)

This is back in 2011, when Intel was first flirting with the Foundry business, and has little bearing to their efforts today. That first effort mostly died. The goal wasn't to become a major player like Samsung/TSMC, but to ensure factories don't sit idle (i.e. just fill in the gaps with small customers). Intel products would get priority.

The current vision is very different: It's to somewhat separate the fabs and Intel's products, and the end goal is that Intel Products will just be another Foundry customer.

Whether they can achieve this is another story.

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Re:Intel doesn't know how to be a foundry," Tim Cook reporte... by wtallis on Wednesday January 29, 2025 @09:16PM (#42874023)

Arguably, Intel has already achieved the most important part of the Intel Foundry strategy: letting the CPU designers target whatever fab is best for their needs. Getting most of the consumer CPU moved to TSMC for Meteor Lake a year ago and the rest of it moved to TSMC last fall is hugely important. Intel Foundry cannot count on having a big customer, and the product line isn't forced to stick exclusively with failing fabs.

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