Intel Corp (INTC)

[techno_bull]

No customer is going to commit for multiple years on how many wafers they buy

'Commit' might be to strong a word since availability of a competing foundries more advanced process might force the customer switch to better position their product. But isn't there some kind of tacit agreement at some level that 'we the customer will buy your wafers if they are competitive with other foundry offerings'?

It would seem that there must be some way to mitigate the investment risk of the foundry since this huge capital outlay is being risked for the betterment of both foundry and customer.

Now if even after the huge capital outlay occurs the foundries process (and resulting products) is found inferior to the competition then the customer would be free to move on. The more I write this, the more complicated (and maybe impossible) that agreement would need to be, so perhaps I have my answer.