US wants Nvidia & Apple to use Intel's foundries

THE US GOVERNMENT has been busy over the past year or two handing out large subsidies and grants to help boost local silicon manufacturing efforts. Intel was once the undisputed leader in the race for ever smaller and faster fabrication nodes, but after major stumbles in the transition from 14nm-class to 10nm-class technologies, TSMC passed it by.

- Jarred Walton

Now Intel is playing catchup, investing billions into bringing up new nodes. Under CEO Pat Gelsinger, it has also been working to take on TSMC directly by offering its foundry services to other companies. Things haven’t exactly gone smoothly.

During a meeting with the US Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Gelsinger expressed frustration with US companies’ reliance on TSMC. Specifically, he’s talking about Apple and Nvidia—though this also applies to AMD and other smaller companies. After the meeting, Raimondo has apparently been holding meetings with some of these companies, encouraging them to use US foundries to produce advanced AI and other chips.