It was announced a few days ago that Intel is finally going to actually receive something from the CHIPS act. So far they haven't gotten a dime. CHIPS money has overall distributed barely any of the funds.
That's a good point, there's also Trump coming in and potential tariffs. The path set by Pat Gelsinger may no longer be the most profitable, in the short term. Why invest and restructure if you expect the incoming government to cut your competitors off and allow you to cruise along for another four years?
i don’t think problem was never lack of manufacturing capacity. I think it was process tech.
So I think the free govt money tempted them to invest in something that wasn’t mission critical - old node capacity, when they really needed r&d