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Comment by klelatti | Hacker News Reader

Great piece but it seems that Ben doesn't quite finish joining the dots.

If Intel is to have a successful foundry business at the cutting edge then its customers will be those firms that are designing cutting edge CPUs, SoCs and GPUs.

That means Apple & Qualcomm (possibly OK) but also Nvidia, AMD and other Arm based competitors with Intel's CPUs and GPUs.

Can't see how this will work with Intel in its current form.

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Perhaps a duopoly in domestic chip fabrication, with both Intel and TSMC operating fabs in the continental U.S.

I think klelatti is doubting whether AMD could trust Intel to pursue AMD's best interest.

Absolutely! Handing over your detailed product specifications and product plans to a direct competitor is inconceivable.

I’m 100% convinced now that an Intel split into foundry and CPU vendor is inevitable.

It’s a political if not a commercial necessity if Intel is to provide a viable alternative to TSMC.

Samsung manufactured for Apple for a long time. I don't think it's inconceivable.

That’s a fair challenge. I think it’s a little different though - the SoC was one component of the iPhone - so full details of the competing product weren’t being shared.

Plus when the relationship started volumes were small for both iPhone and Samsung phones. As we know Apple ended the relationship eventually.

I struggle to see Lisa Su handing this info to Intel even with some strong safeguards.

Intel contract manufacturing for AMD would be a fun turn of the tables.

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