Unofficial sources report that Intel and TSMC have reached a preliminary agreement to establish a joint venture to manage Intel’s factories in the United States
This was reported by Reuters and The Information, citing two unnamed sources. Under the terms of the agreement, TSMC will own 20% of the joint venture. It is not known how the remaining 80% is distributed, but earlier this year TSMC allegedly approached AMD, Broadcom, NVIDIA and Qualcomm about investing in a joint venture that would own several fabs in the US. NVIDIA and TSMC later denied such discussions.
The deal was reportedly actively promoted by the U.S. government, particularly the White House and the Department of Commerce, as part of efforts to resolve Intel’s current operational difficulties. The US government sees the partnership as a means of stabilizing Intel. At the same time, the current The government does not support the sale of Intel factories to foreign investors, especially TSMC.
At this time, it is unclear what exactly TSMC’s involvement in Intel’s tens of billions of dollars worth of U.S. fabs, many of which can only be used to make processors for Intel, and only one or two of which can make processors using Intel’s 18A technology. It is also unclear how TSMC’s plans to own 20% of Intel Foundry fit with plans to invest $165 million in own factory Arizona Fab 21.
Financial markets reacted quickly to the news. Intel’s stock price rose by almost 7% after the report was released, helping the company recover from the drop in market capitalization caused by Trump’s tariffs. In contrast, TSMC’s shares in the US fell by about 6% Both companies have not yet commented agreement.