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Intel has lost the battle to TSM and the totally superior ecosystem Morris Chang built on integrity and trust that is unmatched by any major corporation I know of. Integrity and trust, when mixed with a constant drive for excellence to build an entire worldwide ecosystem, is an accomplishment rarely matched and the wisdom of Morris Chang is unmatched and has a built-in resilience rarely seen and I see this very rare special culture enduring for a long time. Morris Chang is a true genius, not only in tech but in business and culture. I am a long-time investor with TSM for this very reason. I only hope that China does not destroy one of the world's great treasures. If more companies would follow the lead in a culture that TSM has established, the world would be a better place.
Indeed many companies make the same claims of customer focus and integrity, but very few walk the talk. It's really amazing the kind of long term results that are possible when a company truly does put it's customers ahead of it's short term profitability.
The kind of trust that is built over decades and word of mouth is better than any marketing. Intel spends hundreds of millions on marketing every year, but still everyone in the semiconductor industry looks at it and says "Those are some fancy slides, but its Intel and I don't really believe anything they say". But when it comes to TSMC, if they say "We will be ramping this node on this schedule", we almost never second guess it. These are the kinds of reputations that Intel and TSMC have earned over the last 10-20 years.
Don't underestimate the leadership of CC Wei. CC has brought a lot of energy and a much more competitive culture to TSMC. Morris Chang started it all but CC Wei has made TSMC the competitive foundry powerhouse they are today, absolutely.
This may be wildly unpopular but there was a long time when Intel was the gold standard for node consistency and TSMC had a number of misses at the same time. TSMC also opened the naming rabbit hole with 20nm and 16nm. Intel could take the crown again.
That said I do think TSMC and the leadership there are something very special and to be admired. It's possible their culture and customer relationships will allow them to hit the end of silicon scaling first, but it's not a guarantee.
This may be wildly unpopular but there was a long time when Intel was the gold standard for node consistency and TSMC had a number of misses at the same time. TSMC also opened the naming rabbit hole with 20nm and 16nm. Intel could take the crown again.
That said I do think TSMC and the leadership there are something very special and to be admired. It's possible their culture and customer relationships will allow them to hit the end of silicon scaling first, but it's not a guarantee.
It is interesting to note that TSMC named 16nm in reference to the density being less than Intel 14nm. Samsung named their process 14nm even though density was similar to TSMC. A shrewd marketing move by Samsung for sure. CC Wei will not make that mistake as he is a shrewd decision maker.
Intel using TSMC N3 for native products will shed new light on the node wars. Intel and AMD will be on the same node and Intel products will be on both TSMC N3 and Intel 4. This is where the rubber will meet the road.
I also believe Intel will stay with internal packaging on N3 while AMD works with TSMC packaging. Then we will see if Intel packing leadership is in fact "unquestioned" as Pat Gelsinger has stated.
