By Tal Horowitz
Everyone thinks Intel is making a comeback. They're wrong.
While tech media celebrates Intel's 18A process and government bailouts, I spent months researching what's really happening between Lip-Bu Tan and C.C. Wei - two CEOs locked in the most consequential corporate battle of our generation.
The truth? This isn't a competition. It's a controlled demolition.
Intel burns $5 billion quarterly trying to reclaim a crown TSMC never plans to return. Tan inherited a company that spent a decade making catastrophic decisions.
Wei? He's sitting on 90% of the world's advanced chip production, with Apple, Nvidia, and AMD as hostages to his supply chain.
But here's what nobody's talking about:
Tan isn't fighting to win. He's fighting to survive long enough for a merger, acquisition, or government takeover. Every "breakthrough" announcement is theater for shareholders and senators. Every partnership with AWS and Microsoft is a desperate plea for relevance.
Meanwhile, Wei plays a different game entirely - one where the US government begs Taiwan for access, where geopolitical tension becomes leverage, where controlling 2nm production means controlling the future of AI, computing, and national security.
I documented this battle across five detailed posts - from Tan's impossible turnaround mandate to Wei's calculated dominance, from the emotional toll on both leaders to the backroom deals that will reshape the industry.
The semiconductor war isn't about technology anymore. It's about pride, legacy, and two men who know only one of them will be remembered as the architect of the AI age.
The other? A footnote in the story of American industrial decline.
Want to know which CEO is already planning their exit strategy?
Read the full 5-part series
The battle for semiconductor supremacy isn't what you think it is.
THE SEMICONDUCTOR SURVIVAL BATTLE Part 1 of 5 Lip-Bu Tan (Intel) vs. C.C. Wei (TSMC) - Tal Horowitz
PART 1: ORIGINS - The Immigrant's Gamble vs. The Farmboy's Ascent A tale of two men from opposite worlds, destined to collide in the battle for the future of
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