Intel May Exit the Advanced Chip Race Without External Customer Interest, Signaling a Potential Decline for a Key Guardian of Moore’s Law

You know, I was reading about Intel the other day, and it got me thinking. So, imagine this—the CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, takes the helm and might just flip the script on the company. Yeah, wild, right? He’s apparently eyeing some serious changes. One biggie? They might stop chasing after those super fancy chips. Like, they’re really thinking of letting that go. No clue why this hit me, but here we are.

Anyway, they just released their numbers for Q2, and let’s just say it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. Losses, layoffs—yikes. Tan’s got a bunch on his plate, and word is he’s shaking things up, especially over in their foundry corner. And get this: their big filing says they might back off from cutting-edge tech if it doesn’t score them enough business. High stakes.

Oh, and there was a tweet I stumbled across—some analyst pointing out how Intel’s thinking about stepping back from being top dog. Yeah, hard to picture, but the competition’s all about TSMC now.

But here’s the kicker—Intel’s put in so much cash into this, but where’s the payoff? Nowhere visible, it seems. They’re saying if they can’t snag a big customer for their 14A stuff, they just might not bother pursuing new tech. I have to admit, it’s kind of mind-boggling.

Not long ago, the buzz was buzzing louder about them pulling back on another project—18A. Apparently, they’re focusing more on their own gadgets with that one. What’s the deal with these numbers anyway? I guess time will tell. But, if things don’t turn around, TSMC might just be the big player soon, especially now that they’ve set eyes on the U.S. Interesting times in the chip world, right?