TSMC Won’t Make Intel Great Again
The Taiwan chip leader is wise to invest in the US. But it can do so without a forced union with a struggling frenemy.
A proposed TSMC-Intel partnership could get messy.
Photographer: Lam Yik Fei/BloombergTrying to force a partnership between Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Intel Corp. would be a wildly complex ordeal.
Already, the reported request from the Trump administration for TSMC to take a controlling stake in Intel’s US factories is facing valid questions about feasibility from all sides. Washington likely won’t support a foreign company operating Intel’s domestic factories, Reuters reported — just look at how that’s going over in the steel sector. Meanwhile, many in Taiwan are concerned about the company being forced to transfer its bleeding-edge tech capabilities and give up its strategic advantage. This is especially significant because this dominance not only keeps it ahead of industry rivals, but is also seen by many as the “holy mountain” that safeguards the self-governing island from potential Chinese aggression.