Intel will make chips for Microsoft

US chip company Intel will make high-end semiconductors for Microsoft, the companies announced, as it seeks to compete with TSMC and Samsung to supply the next generation of silicon used in artificial intelligence for customers around the world.

Chief executive Pat Gelsinger said at a company event on Wednesday that Intel is set to rebuild Western manufacturing at scale," buoyed by geopolitical concerns in Washington about the need to bring leading-edge manufacturing back to the US.

Michael Acton

Having our entire advanced chip industry built atop one Dutch company and one company on an island China would love to invade is not exactly the recipe for a stable supply chain. I think it's a great idea to build capacity in the US and Europe, and if Intel's the one to do it - with lavish government funding, I might add - then so be it. We'd all love for it to be more diverse than that, but the sad reality is that building advanced chip factories is really hard and really expensive, and very few companies have both the knowledge and money to do so.