Foundry Wars Begin Intel’s re-entry has kicked the competition into high gear, with massive spending on equipment and new fabs. Leading-edge foundry vendors are gearing up for a new, high-stakes spending and technology race, setting the stage for a possible shakeup across the semiconductor manufacturing landscape. In March, Intel re-entered the foundry business, positioning itself against Samsung and TSMC at the leading edge, and against a multitude of foundries working at older nodes. Intel announced plans to build two new fabs with a capital spending budget set at $20 billion in 2021. Earlier this month, TSMC responded by raising the ante, increasing its capital spending budget to $30 billion, up from $28 billion in its previous forecast. In total, TSMC plans to spend $100 billion over the next three years. TSMC, Samsung and others also are building new fabs. These announcements are reminiscent of events more than a decade ago, when foundries were involved in a capital spending, fab and technology race to gain a leadership position. As in the past, it’s unclear if all vendors will make good on their current promises due to technical challenges and market uncertainties.