Intel ‘made a big mistake’ when CEO offended TSMC, Reuters says

When Pat Gelsinger took the reins as Intel (INTC) CEO three years ago with hopes of reviving the company’s fortunes, he “soon made a big mistake” when he offended TSMC (TSM) by calling out Taiwan’s precarious relations with China, according to a Reuters special report by Max Cherney, Jeffrey Dastin, Dawn Chmielewski, Fanny Potkin and Stephen Nellis. In public, TSMC downplayed the comments, with its founder calling Gelsinger “a bit rude,” but privately TSMC said it would no longer honor the discount it had been giving Intel, which meant Intel had to pay full price, shrinking its profit margin on the deal, Reuters’ sources said. Gelsinger inherited a troubled company that had lost its edge in manufacturing, but his affront to Taiwan was part of a series of missteps during his time as Intel CEO, the report says. Like TSMC, Gelsinger has sought to transform Intel into a “foundry” operation that makes chips designed by other companies, but Intel’s efforts to regain manufacturing leadership with a chip-production process called 18A have faced delays and technical problems, with some customers so far declining to use it, the report added.