Taiwan plans to keep cutting-edge nodes close to home, leaving Intel with the opportunity of a lifetime

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Will Intel make the most of it?

The outside of TSMC Arizona, showing the desert and the mountains in the distance next to the TSMC logo
(Image credit: TSMC)

TSMC is the biggest semiconductor manufacturer in the world with 70% foundry market share. Its chip fabs are mostly based in Taiwan, but it does also have one fab in Japan, two in China and, more pertinently to this story, two in the USA: one 8-inch fab in Washington, and one 12-inch fab in Arizona. However, neither of these lattermost fabs are TSMC's very best, nor will they ever be.

TSMC is accelerating its plans for 1.4 nm silicon manufacturing, with the hopes of going into full production in 2027. However, according to the Central News Agency, that bleeding-edge tech won't be coming to TSMC's stateside fabs any time soon due to Taiwan's ‘National Core Technologies’ regulations (via Dan Nystedt on X). As per these regulations, TSMC can only transfer production tech that is at least two generations old to its fabs outside of Taiwan.

TSMC 3nm

(Image credit: TSMC)

With that in mind, Intel may well have the floor Stateside. The lag in TSMC's US fabs getting the company's leading tech will likely give Intel room to breathe. And with TSMC's hands tied by local regulation in Taiwan, US-based businesses may well look to the well-established Intel and its many Stateside fabs for leading chip tech closer to home.

That could certainly lift internal morale which, last I checked, was "in the toilet." With the company's Panther Lake CPU line on the horizon, (and retail listings for Intel Panther Lake laptops already leaking), at the very least, Intel may have reason to look forward to 2026.

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Jess Kinghorn
Jess Kinghorn
Hardware Writer

Jess has been writing about games for over ten years, spending the last seven working on print publications PLAY and Official PlayStation Magazine. When she’s not writing about all things hardware here, she’s getting cosy with a horror classic, ranting about a cult hit to a captive audience, or tinkering with some tabletop nonsense.

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