“Intel appears to be dropping out of the race,” said the four in an article in Fortune, pointing to recent Intel announcements which “strongly imply a gradual exit from the chip manufacturing business,” adding “this may be the right strategy for Intel, it is the wrong strategy for the United States.”
The four former Intel directors are Reed Hundt, a former director of the FCC, David Yossie formerly a Professor at Harvard Business School, Charlene Barshefsky, former US Trade Representative and James Plummer, former Dean of Engineering at Stanford.
“As Intel retreats, America’s future in AI and other advanced technologies is increasingly reliant on a single firm, located a stone’s throw from mainland China,” say the four.
The plan is to build a public-private partnership, where the government, future customers of the foundry, private equity and investors would buy Intel’s fabs and use them as the basis for the American Foundry.
The body to execute the plan is the United States Investment Accelerator at the Department of Commerce which controls billions of dollars allocated to the Chips Act programme that is still unspent. “Perhaps billions more can be retrieved from Intel, given its apparent surrender in the race with TSMC,” add the four.
