Are you implying Intel's margins weren't high enough for it to compensate its engineers well or provide better working conditions?
Intel was very clear that it was not willing to pay top dollar not because they didn’t have the money, but because top technical talent tended to resist or reject Intel culture. This meant the big bucks always went to management and other enforcers of said culture.
In 2021 Pat Gelsinger told HR to increase pay to match market in an attempt to stanch the attrition. The problem with this is that Intel management didn’t try to fix the broken culture, and instead propped it up by handing the new cash over to the “critical talent” that again, were the cultural enforcers. Pat G genuinely believes Intel is the greatest company on the planet, so he won’t see this as a problem.
There are some things that money can’t fix.