It's a pity GF didn't have the muscles to stay in the cutting edge competition. At least Samsung is now trying to ensure there's no monopoly for TSMC, but it's still not enough. Plus it means it's all in East Asia now. It would be better if there was such manufacturing in Asia, Europe, and North America.

I guess they just never had enough money to stay relevant in the game. It has been a good move from AMD to move away from them.

I still found it funny how the US government made $3 billion funds available for the upgrading and construction of chip factories in the US, and so far I've only heard of TSMC claiming some of that money. To produce 7nm by 2024... by which time it will be old news again. I've have expected Intel to get some of that money to help with their struggling nodes.

Maddness:

I guess they just never had enough money to stay relevant in the game. It has been a good move from AMD to move away from them.

AMD didn't really have a choice when GF announced they won't pursue the 7nm process. But of course it was a good move, even if it was a forced move.

fantaskarsef:

I still found it funny how the US government made $3 billion funds available for the upgrading and construction of chip factories in the US, and so far I've only heard of TSMC claiming some of that money. To produce 7nm by 2024... by which time it will be old news again. I've have expected Intel to get some of that money to help with their struggling nodes.

As if Intel needed a single cent of outside money. Intel's problems were (hopefully "were" and not "are" anymore) in the management, rather than in funds or anything else. No matter how good technology, logistics, patent portfolio, and workforce a company happens to have, if the leadership is full of fools, the company is ruined. At least Intel didn't let it proceed all the way to destruction, unlike Nokia, for example, but they certainly woke up at the last possible moment, kicked out the CEO+execs, and are now trying to get back into business.

Maddness:

I guess they just never had enough money to stay relevant in the game. It has been a good move from AMD to move away from them.

When they said they would stop 7nm development AMD had no choice. I have a feeling some contracts were rewritten as well. There is enough specialized staff for GloFlo to make money from it just will never be making any of the cutting edge products again.

Kaarme:

As if Intel needed a single cent of outside money. Intel's problems were (hopefully "were" and not "are" anymore) in the management, rather than in funds or anything else. No matter how good technology, logistics, patent portfolio, and workforce a company happens to have, if the leadership is full of fools, the company is ruined. At least Intel didn't let it proceed all the way to destruction, unlike Nokia, for example, but they certainly woke up at the last possible moment, kicked out the CEO+execs, and are now trying to get back into business.

I don't disagree with anything you say. It's just, more money always helps. If only that Intel has more money to put elsewhere than their chip production lines. Just thought it could help since they would have a believable cause to ask for such grants, with their fab node issues etc.

Kaarme:

It's a pity GF didn't have the muscles to stay in the cutting edge competition. At least Samsung is now trying to ensure there's no monopoly for TSMC, but it's still not enough. Plus it means it's all in East Asia now. It would be better if there was such manufacturing in Asia, Europe, and North America.

Europe and North America are often terrible places to create a manufacturing industry. Too many rules/regulations, too many taxes, and in a lot of situations, insufficient infrastructure. Add to the fact that Americans are too demanding or start to unionize, while Europeans want to work less (or have more vacation/sick time) without docking their pay. You don't get these problems in Asia. Thanks to COVID, companies are also now realizing how many more roles they can outsource.

fantaskarsef:

I don't disagree with anything you say. It's just, more money always helps. If only that Intel has more money to put elsewhere than their chip production lines. Just thought it could help since they would have a believable cause to ask for such grants, with their fab node issues etc.

Intel has more money than they know what to do with. They've barely done anything noteworthy in 5 years and they're still making more money than all of AMD's net worth combined every year. The point Kaarme is trying to make is Intel getting more money won't fix their node issues. To paraphrase Kaarme, no amount of money will fix bad leadership.

schmidtbag:

Intel has more money than they know what to do with. They've barely done anything noteworthy in 5 years and they're still making more money than all of AMD's net worth combined every year. The point Kaarme is trying to make is Intel getting more money won't fix their node issues. To paraphrase Kaarme, no amount of money will fix bad leadership.

True. And I did get his point. Still, they could just have grabbed that money anyway. Maybe they found the terms not to their liking, but I just had the idea, as a company that actually has foundries on US soil (don't they?), they could have tried to grab some of that cake.

fantaskarsef:

True. And I did get his point. Still, they could just have grabbed that money anyway. Maybe they found the terms not to their liking, but I just had the idea, as a company that actually has foundries on US soil (don't they?), they could have tried to grab some of that cake.

Perhaps they weren't qualified due to being a near-monopoly. I think Intel has 2 foundries currently operational in the US, with Israel and Ireland having a couple others. However, those are the locations that produce the actual dies. I believe there are other countries involved in creating the rest of the product, so perhaps that might disqualify them too.

schmidtbag:

Perhaps they weren't qualified due to being a near-monopoly. I think Intel has 2 foundries currently operational in the US, with Israel and Ireland having a couple others. However, those are the locations that produce the actual dies. I believe there are other countries involved in creating the rest of the product, so perhaps that might disqualify them too.

Good point. But TSMC got some of that money, and they certainly don't produce most of their chips in the US. But that quasi-monopoly, good point. Maybe they just didn't lobby enough.