When Intel struggled with its 10nm process technology a few years ago, some investors suggested that the company would be better-off spinning its chip production into an independent foundry, leaving the core of the company to focus on chip design instead. Bucking these calls, however, Intel opted to keep chipmaking in-house, even going as far as to creating Intel Foundry Services to use those facilities to do contract chipmaking for other chip designers.
With the significant capital required to scale up the chip fab side of the business, it's a decision that, even today, Intel executives still get asked about. That was once again the case yesterday, at Intel's investor-focused AI Everywhere event at the Nasdaq MarketSite, where Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger reiterated that the company is not going to spin off their foundries.
