Intel recently received a $3 billion CHIPS Act investment grant from the US government, but it came with a few conditions. One of them is that Intel would have to maintain a majority stake in its foundry if it wanted to spin off the business from the parent company.
This is not an issue right now, as the company has refused to do so for now. However, that doesn't mean it won't happen in the future, and it depends on the decisions made by Intel's new CEO.
Currently, the positions are held by Michelle Johnston Holthaus and David Zinsner while Intel searches for a new CEO. Michelle said that separating the foundry from the parent company at this time is not a wise move, and technically, Intel Foundry already operates independently without much input from the parent company.
David Zinsner said that even though Pat Gelsinger has left Intel, the company's focus remains the same for now, which is to revive the semiconductor chip production division with their 5N4Y plan, to build five semiconductor chip production nodes in four years.
Next year will see Intel activate their 18A node which they hope can be used to produce Intel chips again, especially since all of their processors this year, including Lunar Lake, Arrow Lake and the Intel Arc Battlemage graphics processor, are all made by TSMC.
Intel hopes that they can reduce the rate of defective components when using the process, if not, they will have to take some drastic measures soon.