Intel Is Launching a Foundry With a $20 Billion Investment

Tuesday was Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger’s first big public address in his new role, and he wasted no time announcing sweeping changes to Intel’s strategy. The company is going all-in on chip manufacturing...for other companies. Intel’s launching a foundry.

Wait, what? These days, here’s how the semiconductor sausage typically gets made: A tech company designs a chip, then contracts out manufacturing to TSMC or Samsung factories in Asia.

• Intel had traditionally stuck to manufacturing its own chips. Now, it’ll start doing so for others in the US and Europe, kicking off with a $20 billion investment in two Arizona factories.
• In four years, the foundry market could = $100 billion, the company predicts.

Big picture: Years after the “old Intel” fumbled a big step in chip manufacturing and lost steam to Samsung and TSMC—the latter of which controls over half the global market for custom chips—it might finally be able to steal back some market share. Intel’s foundry services are reportedly already backed by Amazon, Google, IBM, and Qualcomm.