Intel

Intel can’t afford to fail

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Intel has chosen CES 2026 to announce the launch of Panther Lakeand it is not a minor detail. It’s not just about teaching new generation of laptop processorsbut to publicly expose the first platform that tests its most ambitious industrial promise. According to Intelthis inaugurates the arrival of the Intel 18A node to the market and converts a process that had been, above all, a declaration of intent for years into a commercial product. In this context, what Intel is at stake is to demonstrate that it can deliver on its promises when there is no longer any room for delays or explanations. Panther Lake is the code name, but Core Ultra Series 3 is the way the firm led by Lip-Bu Tan He wants the market to understand this generation. With this commercial framing, the company seeks to differentiate it from previous stages and make it clear that this is not a minor iteration. We are looking at a complete platform for laptops, with a common architecture on which different product levels are built, from performance-oriented models to those that prioritize efficiency and price. Intel’s most demanding exam in years As we say, the true anchoring point of Core Ultra Series 3 is Intel 18A, the manufacturing process on which the entire proposal is built. It is about the most advanced node ever developed and manufactured in the United States, and the first to hit the market integrated into a complete family of laptops. This detail shifts the focus from the chip design to the industrial capacity behind it and places 18A as more than just a technical leap. For consumers, the company talks about up to 60% more multi-core performance compared to the previous generation, according to internal tests in Cinebench 2024 at 25 W, improvements of up to 77% in gaming performance in an internal battery of 45 titles at 1080p High, and a NPU capable of reaching up to 50 TOPS for AI loads. To all this, it adds autonomy estimates of up to 27.1 hours streaming Netflix, always under specific conditions and configurations, figures that outline the objective that Intel puts on the table for this generation of laptops. To understand what Core Ultra Series 3 really proposes on the market, you have to look less at the range number and more at the internal segmentation of the catalog. Intel introduces here a clear distinction between the X models and those that are not, with the X9 and X7 being the ones that concentrate the most ambitious configurationsespecially on integrated Intel Arc graphics. Added to this is the H suffix, which is the most reliable indicator of real power, since it identifies chips with more cores, greater bandwidth and higher power limits. This launch is also understood from a very specific competitive key. The product is part of Intel’s attempt to regain ground against AMD in the laptop market, a segment where pressure on efficiency and sustained performance has intensified in recent years. In that context, Panther Lake competes not only for performance, but also for perception, reinforcing the idea that Intel is a solid and reliable option for manufacturers and users. Beyond the numbers and the official discourse, Panther Lake will have to demonstrate its value in very practical aspects. We will have to see how he performs on a day-to-day basis.if the promises of efficiency translate into a consistent experience and if the autonomy holds up in real uses, not just in controlled tests. When do the new Intel Core Ultra series 3 processors arrive? With Panther Lake, Intel is no longer playing in the field of open promises, but in that of specific schedules. Pre-sales of the first laptops with Core Ultra Series 3 begin immediately and their global arrival on the market from January 27. Images | Intel In Xataka | The new Qualcomm chip for PC is a declaration of intent: more intelligence than power

Immediately afterwards, Intel and AMD ended up being sued

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The inside of a missile says much more than it seems at first glance. Beyond its military function, it is also the result of a design, manufacturing and distribution chain that crosses borders. In several analyzes carried out in Ukrainetechnicians have identified foreign components integrated into Russian weapons. That information, by itself, does not explain how they got there, but it does open an investigation that begins in the technical field and ends up connecting with international trade and the courts. In this way, that clue is transferred to the judicial field. Several civil lawsuits were filed this week in Texas state court in Dallas on behalf of dozens of Ukrainian citizens against Intel, AMD and Texas Instruments, as well as Mouser Electronics, a large components distributor linked to Berkshire Hathaway. The plaintiffs maintain that these companies did not prevent restricted chips from being resold to Russia through third parties, despite the sanctions in force. The chosen location is not coincidental, since the aforementioned companies have an operational presence in that state. The accusation in a sentence. As Bloomberg reports, The lawsuits maintain that the companies incurred what lawyers describe as “willful ignorance”, a deliberate ignorance regarding the diversion of chips to Russia through foreseeable intermediaries. According to the plaintiffs, there were sufficient signs that components from these companies were being resold in violation of US sanctions, but they allege that controls were not strengthened to prevent this. That omission is the basis of a broader accusation of corporate negligence in export control and diversion prevention. So how do the chips arrive? The background of the litigation links to investigations that have long pointed to the presence of foreign technology in Russian weapons. Vladyslav Vlasiuk, Ukrainian presidential commissioner for sanctions policy, he explained to CNN in September that many of these components are dual-use and that their entry into military programs usually occurs through intermediaries and front companies. The demands are not based only on a general approach, but on specific episodes. The writings cite five attacks that occurred between 2023 and 2025 that killed or injured civilians in Ukraine. According to the documentation presented, one of those attacks would have involved Iranian-made drones, while others are attributed to KH-101 cruise missiles and Russian-produced Iskander ballistic missiles. In several cases, the plaintiffs claim that the systems used incorporated electronic components associated with the aforementioned companies. The focus of the lawsuits is not limited to the manufacturers. Named in court documents is Mouser Electronics, a large components distributor based in Mansfield, Texas, and owned by Berkshire Hathaway since 2007, when it acquired parent company TTI. The plaintiffs allege that Mouser facilitated chip transfers to shell companies controlled by intermediaries with ties to Russia, and that its logistics decisions and operations were a relevant domestic component of the alleged conduct. Mouser and Berkshire Hathaway also did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Position of the companies and sanctions. The companies mentioned have not made public comments on the matter. In the past, however, they have said that they comply with sanctions requirements, that they ceased their activity in Russia when the war began, and that they maintain strict policies to monitor compliance. Since the start of the war, the United States has tightened controls on the export of semiconductors and other electronic components, but the results have been mixed. a report of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations concluded last year that components manufactured in the United States continue to appear in Russian weapons. As we can see, sanctions and export controls do not seem to be preventing Western chips from ending up in the hands of companies linked to the Russian military complex. From now on, the course of the case will depend on when the court processes the lawsuits and they become publicly visible in the judicial record. From there, the judges will decide if the litigation moves forward and with what schedule. Beyond the result, the case focuses on a question that is difficult to resolve with simple rules, how far the responsibility goes when a component is resold over and over again and ends up in a prohibited end use, with human consequences far from its point of origin. Images | Vitaly V. Kuzmin (CC BY-SA 4.0) | Rubaitul Azad In Xataka | The US has joined the “party” of China, Russia and Japan in the Pacific: with its nuclear bombers

The microprocessor that advanced the Intel 4004 was not in a computer, but in a secret place: an F-14

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We are used to thinking that the history of microprocessors begins with the Intel 4004. Even those who are not experts have it associated with it as the first big chip that inaugurated the era of personal computing. But that is not the only possible story. There was another design, less known and outside the commercial circuits, that began operating before the 4004 reached the market. It did not appear on a computer or calculatorbut in a F-14 Tomcatand for almost thirty years it was invisible to the public. What that plane had inside was a processor designed to do something that no commercial chip did at that time: automatically calculate speed, altitude or wing position while the pilot maneuvered. That system, known as MP944, had been in service since 1970, when the 4004 had not yet been introduced. Its context was completely different from that of Intel, because it was not designed for the market or to be licensed, but rather to fulfill a requirement of the military program marked by the tensions of the Cold War. A secret microprocessor in the bowels of an F-14 The novelty was not only that it made calculations, but that it did so automatically and digitally, something unusual in on-board systems from the late sixties. The MP944 processed sensor readingsapplied aerodynamic equations and provided data that influenced the behavior of the plane, reducing the pilot’s workload. It was not a passive assistant, but a module capable of interpreting those readings and providing results fast enough to be integrated into actual flight control. That is why it was considered a technology ahead of its time. The declassified documents in the nineties show that the MP944 combined advanced MOS technology with a 20-bit parallel architecture capable of executing pipeline calculations, something unusual for its time. Its frequency was 375 kHz and it could process specific mathematical operations efficiently enough to be integrated into real flight systems. According to the figures collected in Holt’s work and in the subsequent review by Tom’s Hardware, this performance placed the MP944 clearly ahead of the 4004 in number of instructions executed, although it was never intended as a general-purpose commercial chip. They were two different approaches: one for a military aircraft, the other for a commercial device. When Holt’s work came to light decades later, He argued that the MP944 should be considered the first microprocessoreven though it was not on a single chip nor had it been marketed. Intel engineers, such as Ted Hoff and Federico Faggin, disagreed and argued that 4004 was the first in integrating all the essential functions of a CPU in a single piece of silicon and with general use. Russell Fish, a former Motorola engineer, reviewed the MP944 documentation and described it as an advanced microprocessor for its time, while Richard Belgard saw it as an overly specific system, designed only to keep an airplane in flight. Holt maintained that the reason no one knew about MP944 for years was because his work had been classified and subject to military restrictions. He said he spent decades requesting the release of the documents and was only able to do so when, in 1997, he won the support of Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren for the Navy to authorize their publication. With the documentation now available, the Navy qualified that version and maintained that Holt’s work had not actually been classified, but that what was missing was the company’s authorization to release the records. Garrett AiResearch admitted that they were no longer clear about what had happened, because the people who managed the case had left the company. When the information became available, Russell Fish claimed that MP944 was so advanced for its time that, had it been known, could have accelerated the development of the sector by up to five years. The creators of the 4004, such as Federico Faggin and Stan Mazor, openly disagreed and pointed out that the merit of the commercial microprocessor was to integrate all the essential elements on a single chip and make it viable for multiple applications. Richard Belgard qualified this position: he recognized the technical value of the MP944, but saw it as a system designed for a single purpose, without the capacity to open its own market. The debate about which was the first microprocessor is not resolved with a date, but with a definition. The 4004 was the first to hit the market as a commercial, integrated and programmable chip, and that merit explains its place in manuals. The MP944, on the other hand, previously demonstrated that it was possible to process data digitally and feed control systems in real time, even if it was done while locked in an airplane and outside of public space. One opened an industry; the other anticipated capabilities. Both represented different ways of understanding what a microprocessor could be. Images | DVIDS (1, 2, 3) | Thomas Nguyen In Xataka | The United States wants to be sovereign in AI. AMD’s new supercomputers will be part of the plan

the story of how AMD was born by shamelessly copying Intel

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Today AMD is an absolute giant in the semiconductor segment, and its chips are among the most advanced in the world. Their history of innovation is undeniable, but the company’s origins began in a unique way: they ruthlessly copied an Intel chip. Leave me that microscope. In the summer of 1973 Ashawna Hailey, Kim Kailey and Jay Kumar left their jobs at Xerox. But before doing so they wanted to say goodbye in style, and on their last day of work they took an Intel 8080they stripped him and then they used a microscope to take 400 photos of the die of that microprocessor. Reverse engineering. These images allowed the design and architecture of that revolutionary processor to be “deciphered” by reverse engineering, and thanks to them, these three engineers were able to sketch the schematics and logical diagrams that they then offered to Silicon Valley companies to see if any were interested. The origin: Am9080. AMD was the one that ended up taking advantage of that information. The company had just developed a process called “N-channel MOS” for chip manufacturing. The company was taking its first steps at that time, and had hardly any achievements to its credit. What AMD did was combine this advance in its manufacturing technologies with those schemes and launched its Am9080, which some sources suggest began to be sold in 1974 but which in reality did not begin mass production and sale until 1975, 50 years ago. They cloned it and improved it. In an interview with Shawn and Kim Hailey conducted in 1997, these engineers explained how that AMD chip was a resounding success because it managed to be 10 times more efficient in production than Intel: the company managed to obtain 100 dies per wafer, but the chip was also four times more powerful than the original 8080. They made them for 50 cents, they sold them for 700 dollars. That success allowed AMD to begin mass production of a chip that suddenly suffered notable demand, especially in the military and defense industry. In fact, it is estimated that the manufacturing cost of each Am9080 was 50 cents, when the selling price of each one was 700 dollars according to said engineers. The profit margin was absolutely extraordinary. Intel ended up making a deal. That managed to turn AMD into a reference company in the market, and that gave it an advantageous position. One with which he avoided endless legal disputes and which allowed him to sign a cross-licensing agreement with Intel. That made AMD a “second source” for manufacturing its processors. Why did Intel allow something like this? It wasn’t for the love of art. At that time, obtaining lucrative contracts with defense agencies required precisely having a “second source” that could manufacture chips if the original supplier had a problem. Here peace and then glory. That led AMD and Intel to sign an agreement in which AMD paid Intel $25,000 to sign and $75,000 a year for licenses — ridiculous amounts — and that also freed both parties from liability for potential past violations. Everything was forgotten. And finally, x86. That initial agreement was important in achieving the true agreement that sealed AMD’s future. In 1982 Intel allowed AMD to manufacture its own x86 chips. This meant that the firm could begin producing its own versions of chips that used that architecture, the first of which crystallized with the Am286 in 1982, a chip that was a licensed version of the Intel 80286. The rest, as they say, is history. That agreement managed to turn AMD into the great alternative to Intel. Although for years it remained in the shadow of its great competitor, AMD managed to expand its business to the graphics card segment and in recent years this has served to raise it well above Intel in market capitalization: today AMD is the 25th company in the world with a capitalization of 410,000 million dollars. Intel, meanwhile, is going through a notable crisis and is currently the 96th company in the world by capitalization: 182 billion dollars. And it all started (practically) with some microscope photos. In Xataka | The engineer who does not need spotlights: Lisa Su took an AMD on the verge of bankruptcy and ten years later she has made it an empire

Intel has been manufacturing chips for decades only for her. His only salvation is to make chips for all others

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Let’s make a trip to the past. The year is 1997 and Steve Jobs has just returned to Applebut the state of the company is terrible and its future, uncertain. To try to save her Apple began to look for strategic alliances, and that was when she announced an absolutely unusual with Microsoft. Bill Gates’s company would invest 150 million dollars in Apple And both would collaborate on several fronts. That unique agreement seemed impossible. Both companies were large rivals, but the truth is that both won with that alliance. Now it seems that we could live an analogous situation with two other companies that are also large rivals. On the one hand Intel, which is as low as Apple was in 1997. On the other TSMC, which dominates in the semiconductor market like Microsoft did it in the software then. According to The Wall Street Journalboth companies are negotiating a possible alliance that is certainly surprising, but has very interesting ramifications. If TSMC helps Intel’s “salvation”, That will give you an advantageous position in future agreements with the US government. This government is now the owner of 10% of Intel’s shares, and for better or worse to get along with Intel, it means getting along with the administration. Taking into account the current policy that practically forces to manufacture chips and components in the US to get rid of tariffs, that potential alliance becomes profitable. Not just that. The agreement also favors TSMC interests when avoiding possible antitrust. How is it going to be a monopoly when you are helping a competitor not go to pique? As They demonstrated Apple and Microsoft, eliminating competition is not the only way to win the game. A promising transition The Historical crisis For which Intel has been going through his new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, to make very difficult decisions. The mass layoffs They are part of that strategy, but the company has also attended a deep restructuring that It is “chopping”. But there is even more. In fact, Intel’s strategy seems to be recognized and Accept the failure of the era of “exclusive chip”. The firm has admitted that manufacturing by and for it had no route, and now wants to focus on a business model on which it is A chips factory for third parties. That is exactly what has placed TSMC where it is. If the alliance with TSMC is completed, a unique strategy would be confirmed by Intel in which in a few weeks we have lived a unique opening to alliances of all kinds and condition: SoftBank injected 2,000 million dollars USA bought 10% of Intel for 8,900 million dollars Nvidia invested 5,000 million dollars Apple is a candidate for a collaboration agreement And now TSMC could also follow those steps All these steps certainly open an escape for an Intel that seemed to be against the strings. If such alliances fruit, Intel will only lack his two great future objectives. The first, fulfill your promises With the 14th node to which everything has opted. The second, Get customers For that node. And that is where those agreements can be very useful. Image | Intel In Xataka | Intel has confirmed that the 20A node will be skipped to reduce expenses. The 18A node will enter production in 2025

Apple closed Intel years ago. Intel now wants to sneak into Apple with a clear argument: they are from the US

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Intel is one of the most important companies in the technological sector and one of the heavyweights of integrated circuits. However, these last ten years, The company lost a third of its value. Intel’s decline is due, in part, to its inconsequential position in the mobile erawith ARM being the Winning bet of giants such as Microsoft or Apple. At that time, he lost one of his biggest clients: Apple. But history may have hit a turn with an unexpected reconciliation. And also very important for both parties. Intel wants Apple. The information comes from Bloombergmedium with journalists very close to Apple’s world and to which several anonymous sources have contacted these last hours to comment that Intel would have approached Apple with an objective: that those of Cupertino invest in them. They need it, and although it is nothing more than a rumor, the volatile market of shares has already given its opinion with a 6.4% rise after the medium report. Intel looking for money in Apple’s pockets is logical. His shares are around $ 30, while Apple’s move around $ 250, and getting such a large client would be a lifeguard. As were the 5,000 million dollars that Nvidia invested in Intel a few days agoturning the GPU giant and artificial intelligence into a holder of 4% of the actions of the semiconductor company. Apple needs Intel. Own Nvidia snatched Intel the crown If being the most valuable chips manufacturer in the world, but in that scenario in which Intel needs money and customers of Apple’s caliber, Apple needs Intel for a very concrete reason: local manufacturing. In August, and in an agreement as controversial as it is unconventional, United States acquired 10% Intel. Because? Because it is an American company, one of the most important functions and the current United States government is promoting that its technology to manufacture within its borders, leaving China or India. The previous executive, With the Chips law, he already gave huge incentives for this. With the current one, the incentive for companies is not to cold tariffs. And that is where Intel can be tremendously valuable for Apple. It does not go from processors. For a long time, the two companies seemed inseparable. Intel provided some of his best processors to Apple, as well as some internal components of the iPhone. However, things began to twist when Apple, looking for greater control over the manufacturing process of its devices, sought components on other sides, began to Design your own processors Based on ARM (Humbing Intel along the way) and even bought Intel’s modems business for 1,000 million dollars. First time the government intervened in a company from the rescue of the automobile industry In the 2008 crisis. But this agreement would not be for the manufacturer to supply pieces to those of the apple, at least, Bloomberg points out: the real interest is the commented: that An Apple that depends on TSMC To manufacture numerous components of SIS different families of devices go to manufacture them on American soil in Intel factories. Intel as touchstone. Neither Apple nor Intel have made statements, but a few days ago, Tim Cook commented that they would love to see Intel return to the business and there are many cross investments in this story. Apart from 10% purchased by the US and the 5,000 million NVIDIA, another company that has recently invested in Intel is Softbank, a Japanese giant who wants to expand in the US and It has arrived with 2,000 million for Intel. For its part, Apple advertisement which has 600,000 million to invest in national initiatives over the next four years. And that is where Intel could fit perfectly into that piece of the puzzle that is currently the semiconductor business, the companies that manufacture in China, India or Taiwan and the US demands to manufacture in local territory. It only remains to be waiting to see if all these lifeguards get Intel to recover his ancient glory. It will not be easybut we will be here to tell if the story changes … or if the great disaster of 2011 is repeatedsince its archirrival, TSMC also has great plans for the United States. Image | Intel In Xataka | The US confesses its worst nightmare: if China invades taiwan and controls TSMC the US economy will go to pique

The undisputed winner of the aggressive competition of TSMC, Intel and Samsung is a European company: ASML

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Integrated 2 nm circuits are about to disembark in the market. Users know that nanometers have lost much of their usefulness, and that, in reality, They represent a category of semiconductors. In fact, they no longer faithfully reflect the length of logical doors or other physical parameter, such as the distance between transistors. Each chips manufacturer He manages them with freedomwhich prevents us from directly comparing the lithographs that try to “sell us.” Whatever the important thing is that TSMC, Intel and Samsung are about to engage in a new battle that seeks to capture the maximum possible number of customers for their 2 Nm or comparable line nodes. Whatever happens we can be sure that the great beneficiary of this contest will be The Dutch Company ASML. And it will be because it is the only manufacturer on the planet that produces the equipment of extreme ultraviolet photolithography (UVE) and haute opening that are necessary to go beyond the 2 Nm reaching the optimal performance. Digitimes Asia He has just confirmed that those responsible for the Samsung semiconductors manufacture are weighing the possibility of increasing the number of Uve haute opening machines that will buy at ASML. And, according to this Asian medium, it will do it because it needs to reduce the technological and commercial gap that separates it from TSMC, which leads the chip market with A fee close to 60%. The Uve High Opening machines are still in the test phase, but there are no doubt that they will be the authentic protagonists of the semiconductor industry in 2026 and successive years. ASML Haute Opening Lithography Machography is an engineering prodigy It weighs as much as two Airbus A320 and incorporates more than 100,000 pieces, 3,000 cables, 40,000 bolts, and also more than 2 km of electrical connections. The photolithography team Twinscan Exe: 5000 Designed and manufactured by ASML is the most sophisticated integrated circuit production machine that exists. And also the most expensive. The most up -to -date information we have reflects that only one of these teams costs 350 million euroswhich will surely cause some chips manufacturers think twice Before buying it. ASML plans to deliver to its customers annually from 2025 about 20 Uve Haute Opening teams ASML engineers have invested a decade in the development of the technology necessary to set up this machine, which, in reality, is a team of extreme ultraviolet lithography (UVE) second generation. This company of the Netherlands plans to deliver to its customers annually From 2025 about 20 teams of this type with a purpose: put in their hands the possibility of producing chips of 2 nm and beyond. Interestingly, to develop this machine, ASML engineers have made a very advanced optical architecture that has an opening of 0.55 compared to the 0.33 value that the first -generation UVE lithography equipment has. This refinement of the optics allows to transfer to the wafer patterns of greater resolution, hence it is possible to manufacture chips using more advanced integration technologies than those currently used in the nodes of 3 Nm. However, this is not all. ASML has also improved the mechanical systems that are responsible for the manipulation of wafers with the purpose of making it possible for a single UVE Machine to be able to produce more than 200 wafers per hour. The cover photography of this article allows us to intuit the extreme complexity and sophistication that one of these teams has, which, by the way, would not be possible without the cooperation of other companies, such as the German Zeiss or Cymer, a company of American origin that is currently consolidated within the ASML structure. Somehow this last company Delivery to ASML the raw material that need their photolithography machines. And that raw material is none other than the ultraviolet light that is responsible for transporting the geometric pattern described by the mask so that it can be transferred with great precision to the surface of the Silicon wafer. Image | ASML More information | Digitimes Asia In Xataka | The great covered in the War of Critical Minerals is Tungsten. The US needs it and 83% have it China

Intel has gone from mastering the world to being a forced partner of the United States. They are bad news for Europe

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Intel has just sold 10% of your company to the United States government for 8,900 million dollars. The operation confirms what many suspected: the most iconic chips manufacturer in the world can no longer survive without state help. The panoramic. For three decades, the ‘Intel Inside’ stickers glued to millions of computers symbolized US domain in semiconductors. Intel and Microsoft created The era “wintel” that defined personal computing. In 2009, the Obama administration even presented antitrust charges against Intel for its dominant position. Today, the company is worth 108,000 million dollars while Nvidia, its former subordinated, reaches 4.3 billion. What has happened. Last Friday, Donald Trump announced that the United States acquired 10% Intel in exchange for promised funds under the CHIPS ACT They never arrived. It is not technically a rescue, but it looks a lot. Trump sold it as a big business: “I paid zero for Intel, it is worth approximately 11,000 million dollars” (capital letters are yours). The reality is more complex: Intel had been waiting for those 8.9 billion already committed by the previous administration for months. The company desperately needed money: Its foundry division lost $ 13.4 billion last year. He has fired between 8,000 and 10,900 workers. And the most worrying: not even Intel’s own product teams want to use their factories, preferring that TSMC manufactures their chips. Why is it important. This operation marks a turning point on three critical fronts: For Intel, It means losing business autonomy. 76% of their income comes from abroad, with China representing 29%. Now each decision will be under the political scrutiny of his government. As the company itself warns in regulatory documentsthis could “cause adverse reactions of investors, employees, clients, suppliers, foreign or competitors.” For the United Statesrepresents the return of state capitalism in technology. It is the first direct government intervention in a company from the rescue of the 2008 automobile industry. Trump has already suggested that there will be more: “I will make agreements like this for our country constantly.” For Europethis is especially worrying. The European Union partially depends on Intel for its ambitions of technological sovereignty in semiconductors. If the largest Western chips becomes an instrument of American industrial policy, Europe is in an even more vulnerable position against Asia. The Trump government has already asked TSMC to help rescue Intel factories. Also He took a “golden action” in Nippon Steel and Plan to stay with part of the sales that Nvidia and AMD make to China. The message is clear: the semiconductor industry is now a national security issue. Between the lines. Intel’s fundamental problem is not solved with public money: Intel failed in smartphones when he rejected to make chips for the first iPhone. He was late to AI while Nvidia was ahead. And he lost his leadership in manufacturing against TSMC, which not only has better technology but A superior business model As a pure foundry. As pointed out Intel’s CEO himself, Lip-bu Tan, “twenty or thirty years ago we were leaders. Now the world has changed. We are not among the ten main semiconductor companies.” Its survival depends on the success of the 18A manufacturing nodehis latest technological commitment. And now what. Intel is now a company supported by the State, something that its own managers warned could scare customers. Meanwhile, Trump promises more similar agreementseven suggesting the creation of an American sovereign fund with participations in technology companies. For competitors, this creates a scenario of unfair competition: AMD, Qualcomm and other companies now compete against a rival that has the US government as the main shareholder, with all that that implies in terms of government contracts and political decisions. Senator Rand Paul He summarized it With irony: “If socialism is the Government possessing the means of production, wouldn’t the government be having part of Intel a step towards socialism?” Paradoxically, Bernie Sanders, a declared socialist, applauded the measure. Intel went from being the symbol of American technological capitalism to become his first large semi-nationalized company of the 21st century. For Europe, which struggles not to be behind the technological career, it is an alarm signal: the era of the free market in semiconductors is over. In Xataka | Intel’s fall symbolizes the end of an era: the model that dominated technology for 50 years has died Outstanding image | Xataka

The US has bought 10% of Intel to save it from burning, and that plans a huge problem. One called favoritism

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Intel has agreed to sell 10% of your company to the United States for a value of 8,900 million dollars. An interventionist measure is thus confirmed that has huge implications not only for Intel, but for the entire semiconductor industry. Above all, the American. Historical crisis. The Historical crisis that Intel is going without resolving. And his new CEO, Lip-bu Tanalready I recognized A few weeks ago, “twenty or thirty years ago we were leaders. Now the world has changed. We are not among the ten main semiconductor companies.” The mass layoffs and the decision of Bet everything to lithography 18a –No 20th node– They raised a complicated future for the company, which needs maneuvering margin. He has just obtained it, but we don’t know at what price. Or maybe yes. The agreement. According to indicate in IntelUnited States will invest 8,900 million dollars in company shares, and that adds to the 2.2 billion dollars that the US government paid to the company as part of the Chips and Science Acta federal program that was approved in 2022 and is intended to invest billions of dollars to relive the country’s semiconductor industry. Intel was too big to fall. He Moment of weakness It is still worrying, but there have been two recent “bailouts.” The first, by the Investment of 2 billion dollars of softbank In the company. The second, much more important, the one that has just signed the US government with the purchase of 10% of Intel for 8,900 million dollars. This measure is especially striking for several reasons. For a start, is the first time that the US government intervenes a company since the rescue of the car industry was produced during the 2008 crisis. But there are more implications. Potential loss of autonomy. The agreement is only economic and there will be no official representation of the US government in the Board of Directors of Intel. However, political pressure will now be seen without a doubt increased, and each business decision of Lip-Bu Tan and its team will be seen through a different prism: there is public money at stake. Desperate times, desperate measures? Another perspectives from which this agreement can be contemplated is that of despair. Accepting this governmental “rescue” can be seen as a clear indication that Intel was against the ropes and there was no escape without any movement of this type. For Lip-Bu this can represent a problem for confidence in his leadership now that he has just taken command, and in fact the American senator Tom Cotton He accused him to invest in 600 Chinese companies. President Trump He came to ask for his resignation In Truth Social and then end up meeting him and congratulating him for its management. A logical agreement for Trump’s roadmap. The US president began his mandate with the clear intention of centralize semiconductor production to the maximum and electronics products. This protectionism is closely linked to this decision, and allows to protect Intel in addition to mitigating the dependence of Taiwan and the Chips import and technology From China. The Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, Indian That the agreement is especially beneficial for the US government, pointing out that they were basically giving money to companies through subsidies, but here what the US achieves is to raise that subsidy as an investment. It is not “lost” money. It is not clear that since the money comes from the ACT chips, the US government is allowed to end up obtaining benefits of such “investment.” Favoritism. This politicization of the semiconductor business could end up causing uncomfortable alliances and distorting competition. Now that all kinds of government agencies may have much more inclination to buy Intel chips in the future, while direct competitors such as Apple, AMD, NVIDIA or Qualcomm are harmed before a landscape of government favoritism. Intel, we insist, perhaps it was too big and iconic to drop it, but this intervention raises a change in the rules of the game that affects both Intel and its national competitors and, of course, foreigners. Image | Intel | Gage Skidmore In Xataka | Intel’s plan in front of an unattainable TSMC: beat Samsung and consolidate as the second largest chips manufacturer

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