Intel Corp (INTC)

[Unkwn]

TSMC pumping 24 billion, in words - twenty four billion, into the development of new processes. That is to fend off Samsung (Intel not so much). They plan for 5nm chips in 2020.

With all those crazy numbers, I wonder how high the risk of overspending is in all this. I can hardly imagine a scenario which makes sense economically with such high spending. Who is going to pay for those chips? Who is paying those huge mask costs? How is that killing the economies of scale in semiconductor, when shrinking by 40-50% costs you so much in depreciation of the fabs? Who is out there for only the performance benefits and willing to pay accordingly? Most chips are not highest performance class anyway. This is going to be very interesting.