Intel/TSMC

choi

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Ashlee Vance, Intel’s Bet on Innovation Pays Off in Faster Chips. New York Times, Jan. 15, 2010.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/technology/companies/15chip.html?scp=3&sq=vance%20intel&st=cse

"Industry experts also wonder how long Intel can continue to leverage its manufacturing muscle. Contract chip makers like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing continue to improve their production skills and have a wide variety of customers that help keep their plants full.

"Intel’s rivals like A.M.D. and Qualcomm are reducing capital costs by using such contract chip makers. Indeed, A.M.D. spun off its factories into a new chip-making venture called Globalfoundries, which is backed by large investments from the government of Abu Dhabi.

My comment:
(a) Intel's record profit per se is not interesting to me. What is interesting is the quotation, which I do not really know what the writer is trying to convey. A foundry, TSMC is not a direct competitor of Intel. Rather, TSMC is indispensable for chip designers such as Qualcomm and AMD to compete against Intel.
(b) To get a perspective, please check out the following for the illustration only. (Intel was fine until financial crisis set in in Q4 2008.)

Don Clark, Intel Reports Blowout Profit; Bellwether Chip Maker Surges on Rebound in Sales, Suggesting Upturn for Tech. Wall Street Journal, Jan. 15, 2010.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704281204575003373331548234.html

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