Intel’s CHIPS Act fund delayed by officials — Washington reportedly wants more information before disbursing billions of dollars

[hist78]

"The company is actively fighting for its survival at the moment, with its board considering cutting non-performing assets like the suspension or cancelation of its Magdeburg, Germany chip fab and selling off its stake in Altera. Massive cash inflation from any source would likely give Intel much-needed breathing room to save its core business, but it’s unlikely it will come from the promised CHIPS Act funds.

The government will only release the earmarked investments once the winner has proven it can deliver. Other winners, such as TSMC and Samsung, have already shown promising progress in their investments. For example, the former’s Arizona fab has already achieved yields similar to those of its factories in Taiwan, while the latter is considering upgrading its Texas fab to the 2nm process.

While Intel told Bloomberg that it’s still making progress in its American projects and that it’s looking forward to finalizing its agreement with the federal government, there are reports that the company wants the CHIPS Acts released as soon as possible and that it feels that Washington is drawing out the process. On the other hand, the Biden administration might be a bit wary of the adverse developments brought to light by Intel’s August 1 announcement. And given this election year, the Democrat White House would probably be more careful, as it doesn’t want to provide its political opponents ammunition to use against Harris.

The U.S. must invest in the semiconductor industry to help keep it in the lead. However, with Intel, one of its star players in the global chip race, running into trouble, it might need to reconsider its strategy and spread its investments across more companies. That way, the U.S. is not banking on Intel's success to stay ahead of the game."


Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/oth...re-disbursing-billions-of-dollars/ar-AA1qkJro

 

[hist78]

Obviously, Intel is short on cash now, but I can't forget the billions it spent on its stock buyback program. Intel needs to convince the U.S. government and taxpayers that the Chips Act funds they are seeking won’t be wasted.

 

[MKWVentures]

Obviously, Intel is short on cash now, but I can't forget the billions it spent on its stock buyback program. Intel needs to convince the U.S. government and taxpayers that the Chips Act funds they are seeking won’t be wasted.

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Stock buy backs are not a negative. If you have cash, it is a great way to use is. Plus without stock buybacks, the stock would dilute from all the RSUs and grants.

Why do people think stock buybacks are bad?

and again: Intel spends way too much money on R&D products and fabs. and it has way too many employees (According to Intel employees). Its not like Intel has been refusing to spend. If they spent more, it would just be more waste.

Now, when the stock price collapses severely like Intel, then the buybacks are not so good... but Intel is the only Compute tech stock price that collapsed. Everyone else grows and Intel grew reasonably from 2008 to Feb 2021.

 

[blueone]

Why do people think stock buybacks are bad?

Because they don't understand US corporate finance and US tax policies.

As Warren Buffett said in a recent annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders:

When you are told that all repurchases are harmful to shareholders or to the country, or particularly beneficial to CEOs, you are listening to either an economic illiterate or a silver-tongued demagogue (characters that are not mutually exclusive)