> Besides, Intel has the kind of margins and volumes that if TSMC wanted to massively expand their production lines, Intel’s orders could underwrite it.
This is my point, imagine building all this manufacturing capacity for Intel, and then they get a breakthrough with their own manufacturing and goes "nah, we'll make these ourselves now".
Since <insert nm here> manufacturing still gets old after awhile it's not like it'll be very utilized once it's "old" (I believe, taken out of thin air though, i know some big NM is still used for things like switch ASICs and such)
Probably indeed, but that's still capacity their existing partners could make good use of. Which is why I think it's a little weird. Obviously this is something that wasn't just taken out of someones arse, but it does raise questions for me.
Besides, Intel has the kind of margins and volumes that if TSMC wanted to massively expand their production lines, Intel’s orders could underwrite it.
Finally, there may be some technology transfer advantages as well.