When you're in a bit of a hole, any way out can look compelling if you're not ruthless in your thinking - so all options have to be evaluated dispassionately (the "dispassionate" bit is never easy, especially in such a storied firm, with lots of press, analyst and investor attention).
There is an argument for a firm to focus on doing one thing really, really well, so a split will have its proponents, and with some justification.
But splitting off Intel Foundry - with its cash needs, asset deals with Brookfield Asset Management, #ChipsAct support, etc, may painfully expose it as something akin to a "ward of the state". That may be fine too, if one can bear the cost and the lengthy time it will take to hopefully create a sustainable foundry business (though I wonder about requisite scale - and for the #reshoring gambit to work, it needs paying customers of scale happy with the value proposition).
And is that option affected by one possible result of the election later this year?
If IFS is split, what currently hidden things in the rest of the business would now be exposed?
I am reminded of an old joke about airlines, that often applies to the semiconductor industry:
If you wanna turn a big pile of money into a small pile of money, start an airline business.
Finally, it's worth remembering that it always looks easier to fix from the outside...and there's always a bill to pay.
#semiconductors #intel
