Intel, TSMC on Chip Shortage: After Blowing $84B on Share Buybacks since 2011, and Now Woefully behind, Intel Clamors for $50B in Subsidies for US Chip Industry

‘We will not be anywhere near as focused on buybacks going forward as we have in the past’: Intel’s new CEO.

By Wolf Richter | 3 May 2021

WOLF STREET — US semiconductor manufacturing has declined to where it is now only 12% of the world’s total, said Intel’s new CEO Pat Gelsinger in an interview with CBS on 60 Minutes. “And anybody who looks at supply chain says, ‘That’s a problem.’” It’s a problem, he said, “because relying on one region, especially one as unpredictable as Asia,” where 75% of the chips are made, “is highly risky.”

And Intel, which made $63 billion in net income over the past three years combined, “has been lobbying the US government to help revive chip manufacturing at home – with incentives, subsidies, and-or tax breaks, the way the governments of Taiwan, Singapore, and Israel have done,” Gelsinger said. This lobbying came after Intel had incinerated $84.5 billion in share buybacks since 2011 (data via YCharts):

The success of Intel’s lobbying became clear in late March when the White House unveiled $50 billion in subsidies for semiconductor makers in the US to address the shortages and US exposure to foreign chip makers, as part of its $2 trillion infrastructure plan. The subsidies for the semiconductor industry have bipartisan support in Congress, the White House said. Corporate subsidies have nearly always bipartisan support. […]

1 Comment on Intel, TSMC on Chip Shortage: After Blowing $84B on Share Buybacks since 2011, and Now Woefully behind, Intel Clamors for $50B in Subsidies for US Chip Industry

Post a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Winter Watch

Discover more from Winter Watch

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading