President Trump might not support Intel's US chip factories being operated by foreign entities

White House officials say President Trump might not support Intel's US-based chip factories being run by foreign entities, meaning TSMC.

President Trump might not support Intel's US chip factories being operated by foreign entities
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TL;DR: President Trump is unlikely to support foreign entities like TSMC operating Intel's US chip factories, despite encouraging foreign investment. Analyst Patrick Moorhead highlights national security concerns, emphasizing the need for intellectual property to remain in the US. The semiconductor industry's future remains uncertain, with potential implications for national security and economic strategy.

President Trump might not support US chip factories owned by Intel being operated by foreign entities like TSMC, according to White House officials.

President Trump might not support Intel's US chip factories being operated by foreign entities 43

The new comments were a response to a Bloomberg report that TSMC would take a controlling stake in Intel's factories at the request of President Trump, with White House officials telling Reuters that the Trump administration supports foreign companies investing and building in the US, but it is "unlikely" to support a foreign company from operating Intel's factories.

Intel has been struggling for years, but there are multiple layers to this situation which analyst Patrick Moorhead beautifully breaks down in a post on X. He said that "having just manufacturing on US soil solves nothing for national security; the IP needs to be on US soil, too. If China attacks Taiwan, they have everything, and Arizona has nothing, and never gets beyond current node".

Moorhead added that a 51% TSMC-owned Intel Foundry with reports describing what he sees as a "landlord-tenant" relationship "makes sense, 51% means control. How does *this* make sense?" He continues: "Intel giving TSMC 18A is essentially giving away one of the elements of national security and goes against everything I thought the new administration wanted. I could see a TSMC minority investor, but to what end for TSMC? To skirt some tariffs? And TSMC IP inside Intel fabs? Uh... see comment on Intel IP in TSMC fabs".

The coming weeks and months ahead are going to be a wild ride for the semiconductor industry, and the United States and Trump administration as a whole. Personally, I'd like to see the simulation move towards SpaceX and Tesla boss Elon Musk acquiring Intel... imagine the heads exploding if that happened.