By Fanny Potkin, Milana Vinn and Wen-Yee Lee
SINGAPORE/NEW YORK/TAIPEI (Reuters) – TSMC has pitched U.S. chip designers Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom about taking stakes in a joint venture that would operate Intel’s factories, according to four sources familiar with the matter.
Under the proposal, the Taiwanese chipmaking giant would run the operations of Intel’s foundry division, which makes chips adapted for the needs of customers, but it would not own more than 50%, the sources said. Qualcomm has also been pitched by TSMC, according to one of the sources and a separate source.
The talks, which are at an early stage, come after U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration requested TSMC, the world’s leading contract chipmaker, assist in turning around the troubled U.S. industrial icon, the sources said on condition of anonymity because the talks are not public.
The details of the plan for TSMC to take no more than a 50% stake and its overtures to potential partners are being reported for the first time.
Any final deal – the value of which is unclear – would need approval from the Trump administration, which does not want Intel or its foundry division to be fully foreign-owned, the sources said.
Intel, TSMC, Nvidia, AMD and Qualcomm declined to comment. The White House and Broadcom did not respond to requests for comment.
At stake is the future of the U.S. chipmaking giant, whose shares have lost more than half of their value in the last year.
Intel reported a 2024 net loss of $18.8 billion, its first since 1986, driven by large impairments. The foundry division’s property and plant equipment had a book value of $108 billion as of December 31, according to a company filing.
Trump is keen to revive Intel’s fortunes, as he seeks to boost American advanced manufacturing, three of the sources said.
The sources said TSMC’s joint venture pitch was made to potential backers before the Taiwanese chipmaker announced with Trump on March 3 that the company planned to make a fresh $100 billion investment in the United States that involves building five additional chip facilities there in coming years.
Talks about the joint venture over Intel’s foundry division have since continued, the three sources said, with TSMC looking to have more than one chip designer as a partner.
Multiple companies have expressed interest in buying parts of Intel, but two of the four sources said the U.S. company has rejected discussions about selling its chip design house separately from the foundry division.