Episode 55: Intel IFS Economics and Last Fabs Standing

The Circuit · 19 Feb 2024 · 40m · Episode 56

What this episode covers

Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg analyze the economic viability of Intel Foundry Services (IFS), using historical data to define an 'exit zone' for leading-edge fabs based on the ratio of revenue to fab construction costs. They model IFS's standalone financials, estimating it will lose billions annually and require approximately $5 billion in external customer revenue by 2028 to remain competitive against TSMC and Samsung. The hosts conclude that spinning off IFS is currently infeasible, as the division cannot yet generate sufficient revenue to justify its massive capital expenditures, predicting a long timeline of 5-10 years before IFS could potentially become a viable standalone entity or acquire other foundry assets.

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