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America’s fantasy of home-grown chipmaking
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Once an icon of US technological and commercial prowess, Intel has lately been a target for subsidies and protection.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The Economist
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How low mighty Intel has fallen. Half a century ago the American chipmaker was a byword for the cutting edge; it went on to dominate the market for personal computer chips and in 2000 briefly became the world’s second-most valuable company. Yet these days Intel, with a market capitalisation of US$100 billion (S$128 billion), is not even the 15th-most valuable chip firm, and supplies practically none of the advanced chips used for artificial intelligence (AI).
Once an icon of America’s technological and commercial prowess, it has lately been a target for subsidies and protection. As we published this, US President Donald Trump was even mulling over quasi-nationalisation.
