It is said that TSMC is receptive to the deal which could see TSMC taking over the running of all or some of Intel’s manufacturing sites.
There is intense speculation on how such a deal could be shaped. One scenario is that TSMC and Intel enter a jv, in which US chip design companies can invest, and which will get Chips Act money. The jv would control all or some of Intel’s manufacturing operations which TSMC would manage.
A more limited scenario in the Wall Street Journal quotes a note from Tristan Gerra, an analyst with Baird. “TSMC would send engineers to Intel’s 3nm/2nm fab, applying the company’s know-how to ensure that the fab and subsequent manufacturing projects from Intel become viable,” wrote Gerra, “the fab could be spun off into a new entity jointly owned by TSMC and Intel, and run by TSMC. The new entity would receive U.S. Chip Act funding.”
Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon commented: “”We don’t know why TSMC would want to license their process tech and IP (voluntarily at least) to a potential leading edge competitor, unless the terms are very favorable, And frankly, if 18A and the overall process roadmap are as healthy as Intel claims, why do they even need to think about standardizing on TSMC’s process offerings?”
Remarks from the White House say that, whatever the outcome, Intel’s fabs should remain under American control.
Another suggestion is that the Intel-TSMC 
collaboration would be limited to Intel’s US packaging operations with TSMC using Intel’s US packaging facilities for its chips. TSMC currently sends its US-fabbed chips to Taiwan for packaging.
However this might be more easily achieved from TSMC’s point of view if the US government subsidised a TSMC packaging plant in the US.
Much of the speculation was driven by JD Vance’s comment that the Trump administration wants to see leading edge ICs manufactured in the US.
Meanwhile stories persist that Qualcomm, Broadcom and even Arm are up for buying Intel’s product divisions with the manufacturing operation to be hived off elsewhere.
