Intel, once sat atop the pile of chip companies, has had a bit of a fall from grace as of late. Instability problems with 13th and 14th Gen chips, plus underperforming CPUs since then, have given an edge to AMD and its excellent gaming CPUs. But the real trouble is how it was recently predicted to have 18 months to 'land a hero customer on 14A' before its chip manufacturing facilities, the foundry business, is in real trouble. Well, in steps the US government. For a price.
Intel has agreed to give a 10% stake to the US government in exchange for $8.9 billion taken from federal grants, as is allowed in the 2022 CHIPS Act. As reported by the Financial Times, this comes with a stipulation. For five years, Intel has to own at least 51% of its foundry business, or the US government can take another 5% of the business at $20 a share.
