As we said some week ago on Twitter, there is a huge possibility that Intel will spin off its own FABs, as IBM did just 3 years ago.

Developing a new node is today very expensive, and in the near future Intel may not have got enough money to invest in this sector due to AMD, ARM, and NVIDIA increased competition in different markets (Consumer PC, Server, HPC, etc).

 

Also, we know that next year AMD will have a huge advantage over Intel, thanks to TSMC 7nm node (EPYC Rome). So, Intel main goal is to not allow AMD to have the same advantage with the 5nm and 3nm nodes (2020-2021).

How? AMD and Intel will share almost the same nodes. Intel may sell to Global Foundries its FABs. Or Intel may create a Joint Venture with GloFo. We have to remember that Global Foundries has got the money of the Arabs and the Know-How of IBM, so it may be a good deal.

This solution can allow Intel to sell its own processors at lower prices (In order to counter attack AMD strategy), and to invest more money to develop new Archs (x86, ARM, GPGPU or VISC).