You said :” Takeover - the big chipmaking companies are all fabless, with the notable exception of Intel, who is now clearly separating out their foundry business as well. ”
The term "big chipmaking companies" encompasses a wide range of chip companies, Some are fabless, meaning they design chips but outsource production, while others design and manufacture their own chips. You probably mean fabless operators like Qualcomm ( mobile) NVIDIA ( graphic cards) AMD (CPU and GPU), Broadcom ( networking). Next to Intel, Samsung has its own foundry and even TSMC, as a foundry designs its own chips and announced its entry into silicon photonics recently. Agree on the ‘ integrated communications companies or material companies’ as more likely acquirers. NVIDIA uses TSMC as a foundry. Who knows TSMC’s recent announcement to move into silicon photonics and be ready from 2027 onwards may have to do something with that relationship.