{"id":115700,"date":"2025-10-11T15:03:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T15:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/115700\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T15:03:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T15:03:12","slug":"inside-intels-big-bet-to-save-us-chipmaking-and-itself-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/115700\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Intel\u2019s big bet to save US chipmaking \u2013 and itself \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

At Intel\u2019s<\/a> new 700-acre factory in the Arizona desert, the company has started large-scale production on the most advanced chips it has ever manufactured in the United States<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Intel claims to have cracked long-standing technical barriers in a new manufacturing process, after years of effort \u2013 producing faster and more efficient chips that will start appearing in laptops and data centres<\/a> next year.<\/p>\n

Its two state-of-the-art Arizona factories, which cost $32 billion (\u20ac27.6 billion), represent a crucial gamble to show sceptical Big Tech<\/a> customers that Intel\u2019s latest process can compete with its dominant Taiwan<\/a>-based rival TSMC<\/a> \u2013 and to prove that advanced chipmaking in the US is still possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the most advanced semiconductor technology in production today on planet earth,\u201d said Kevin O\u2019Buckley, senior vice-president of Intel\u2019s foundry business. \u201cBut we know we have a long way to go to deliver trust for our customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

These big claims will be carefully tested by prospective clients such as Nvidia, Apple and Qualcomm before they decide to entrust their future chipmaking to Intel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the timeline is six to eight months,\u201d said Ben Bajarin, chief executive and principal analyst at consultancy Creative Strategies.<\/p>\n

The \u201c18A\u201d manufacturing process on display in Arizona must convince customers to place advanced orders for Intel\u2019s next-generation \u201c14A\u201d chipmaking technology.<\/p>\n

If it fails to impress, it could deal the final blow to Intel\u2019s multibillion-dollar bet on US leading-edge chipmaking, tipping the company back into crisis.<\/p>\n

\"\"Budget 2026: What it means for Irish households and businesses<\/p>\n

Ciar\u00e1n Hancock is joined by guests to pore over the main elements of Budget 2026. The \u20ac9.4 billion package includes a minimum wage increase of 65c to \u20ac14.15c per hour, a \u20ac10 across-the-board increase to core weekly welfare payments, but no once-offs like double child benefit payments and electricity credits. On the panel:Cliff Taylor, Managing Editor, The Irish TimesFrank O\u2019Neill, Tax Partner, EY\u00a0IrelandSean Collender, President of the Restaurants Association of IrelandEllen Coyne, Political Correspondent, The Irish Times\u00a0Produced by John Casey.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere comes a point in time where they have to make a call on whether they can do it or not,\u201d Bajarin said.<\/p>\n

The pressure on Intel is intense. The Trump administration, which recently took a 10 per cent stake in the company, is determined to reduce America\u2019s dependence on vulnerable tech supply chains overseas.<\/p>\n

The scale of Intel\u2019s financial bet is also difficult to overstate. Completing the Chandler, Arizona, facility near Phoenix will cost the company well over half its 2024 revenue.<\/p>\n

Intel\u2019s losses on its foundry have run into the billions of dollars every quarter for nearly two years as its revenues have declined, with little to show for it so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to attribute much value to a foundry business losing over $10 billion per year\u201d with an uncertain path to profitability and encumbered by Intel\u2019s roughly $20 billion in net debt, Morgan Stanley analysts wrote.<\/p>\n

The Arizona campus is a dense network of hulking factory and office buildings, solar panels, pylons and dusty vacant lots. The new factory, called Fab 52, used twice as much concrete as the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0John McManus: US government investment in Intel looks bad for LeixlipOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The shell of the second facility, Fab 62, is also complete. But it sits empty, a testament to the US chipmaker\u2019s turbulent recent history.<\/p>\n

Former chief executive Pat Gelsinger broke ground in Arizona in September 2021, as part of his push to regain manufacturing leadership. <\/p>\n

The goal was to start making chips for other companies, capturing a bigger share of the high-margin global foundry business. That market hit $138 billion in 2024 and continues to grow as demand for AI chips surges, according to research group Gartner.<\/p>\n

TSMC produces more than 90 per cent of the world\u2019s most advanced chips for the likes of Nvidia, Apple, Google, Qualcomm and Broadcom.<\/p>\n

Under Gelsinger, Intel largely failed to lure in these customers. The company also missed the opportunity to develop a product to rival Nvidia\u2019s AI chips, which have propelled it past a $4 trillion valuation.<\/p>\n

The revenues Gelsinger promised would sustain huge investments in manufacturing failed to materialise, and he was ousted by Intel\u2019s board last year.<\/p>\n

Some analysts expected his successor, Lip-Bu Tan, would sell the struggling manufacturing division altogether.<\/p>\n

\"IntelIntel 18A Panther Lake wafer is the centrepiece of the company’s comeback hopes. Photograph: Loren Elliott\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

But that option has been hemmed in by pressure from the Trump administration \u2013 which is concerned about so much critical chipmaking capacity remaining in Taiwan, within striking distance of China.<\/p>\n

The US government in August converted billions of dollars of planned manufacturing subsidies into equity, securing a 10 per cent stake in Intel.<\/p>\n

Investments by Nvidia and SoftBank followed, buoying Intel\u2019s shares, which are up about 52 per cent in the past month.<\/p>\n

The US stake means Intel \u201cwent from too big to save, to too big to fail\u201d, said Dan Hutcheson, vice-chair of consultancy TechInsights.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s influence could now help the Arizona facility secure customers.<\/p>\n

The president has used the threats of tariffs and political pressure to cajole Big Tech groups such as Apple into line with his policy of boosting American manufacturing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of these [big US chip customers] are now terrorised by the Trump administration,\u201d said Hutcheson. \u201cI\u2019d be surprised if someone doesn\u2019t come in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Developments at Fab 52 are under the microscope from these prospective customers. \u201cEveryone who needs leading-edge foundry is undoubtedly continually evaluating [Intel],\u201d Bernstein analysts said.<\/p>\n

Tan is walking a line between reining in capital expenditures while demonstrating Intel has the capacity to be a serious competitor to TSMC.<\/p>\n

He has promised to curb excessive spending, slashing Intel\u2019s workforce, canning manufacturing projects in Germany and Poland, and slowing construction of another thousand-acre campus outside Columbus, Ohio.<\/p>\n

But Intel is still spending to prove that the 18A system at Fab 52 can reverse a trend that began in the late 2010s, when TSMC overtook Intel in offering superior manufacturing \u201cnodes\u201d \u2013 the processes involved in producing smaller, more complex and efficient chip designs. <\/p>\n

TSMC gained such a technological lead that Intel had started to use TSMC to produce its most sophisticated chips.<\/p>\n

Intel\u2019s fab will now churn out two new Intel products, a personal computer chip named Panther Lake and a server chip called Clearwater Forest.<\/p>\n

Returning Intel\u2019s own chips to its in-house fabs was \u201ca big help\u201d, Hutcheson said. The commitment showed it was \u201cbetting that Intel Foundry is still going to be here in two to three years\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Has Ireland\u2019s Intel loss turned out to be its gain?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Initial problems with the \u201cyield\u201d in the process \u2013 the percentage of working chips that come out the other side \u2013 had been resolved, said Jim Johnson, Intel\u2019s senior vice-president of client computing. The formal launch of these new chips early next year was going to \u201cchange the narrative\u201d around Intel, he predicted. <\/p>\n

Central to Intel\u2019s new manufacturing technology is a process known as EUV lithography. The technology allows patterns to be drawn on silicon wafers that are nanometres thick.<\/p>\n

The hulking white EUV machines in Fab 52, made by Dutch company ASML, are the size of a small motor home. Each cost Intel \u201chundreds of millions of dollars,\u201d said engineering manager Jason Smith.<\/p>\n

The investment Intel has made in showcasing 18A by making its own chips in Arizona now needs to pay off with customer traction for its 14A tech, which would go into production by 2028. Intel has warned it will give up on 14A if it does not win customers.<\/p>\n

Fab 52 has only a small window to prove its viability. Bajarin said: \u201cIf the chips are good, that\u2019s a positive signal to start taking Intel foundry much more seriously.\u201d \u2013 Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At Intel\u2019s new 700-acre factory in the Arizona desert, the company has started large-scale production on the most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[289,79,444,356,18,19,3572,17,18707,384],"class_list":{"0":"post-115700","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-artificial-intelligence","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-data-centres","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-intel","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-tsmc","17":"tag-united-states"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}