Holy ******* shit.

I presume Intel will use this money to secure TSMC's wafers supply.

this is some very clever deal making. Intel makes some of the best memory but is poorly positioned for the consumer end of the business as they only have enterprise pricing. and that sweet 9 billion will/is defray(ing) the cost of the fab expansions.

m4dn355:

I presume Intel will use this money to secure TSMC's wafers supply.

Oh much more fundamental than that: stock buy backs. With so much cheap money flying around, they are concerned (as most are) with the value of money, so, firm the stock price to bolster future purchasing power and protect the largest stock holders. This will also lower their tax burdens. They planned this over a year ago.

Under Gelsinger they've raised R&D spending and have curtailed stock buybacks, but this deal was set in motion before he got there so I wouldn't be surprised if the money was already marked. This move is similar to when Intel sold off its memory business as it was getting out of DRAM etc. Hopefully they use it for investment into Optane R&D as the technology is extremely good, but the price is the adoption killer. As far as SK Hynix is concerned they really just wanted the enterprise business from what I understand.