Intel Foundry’s viability remains the central question for American chip sovereignty. A viral essay on X this week reinforced a point that we argued five months ago: any attempt to rebuild American semiconductor manufacturing would have to contend with Intel being able to get out of its own way. Update? It’s not going well.
Despite rumored talks with Apple, Microsoft, AWS, and even NVIDIA as potential external foundry customers, the demand hasn’t materialized yet. Lip-Bu Tan admits that “the company invested too much, too fast, without sufficient demand.”
So what’s Intel Foundry’s Hail Mary? 14A. Intel’s next-gen chip will be the first commercial utilization of High-NA EUV lithography. The first time Intel has had a chance to demonstrate technical dominance over TSMC in over a decade. Either the company finally overcomes the organizational rot it’s been trying to repair for years, or its failure sinks our chances at chip sovereignty and leaves us at the mercy of technical capability from Taiwan or South Korea. There is no third option.
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