Both companies have delayed the timelines for full production at their new Arizona fabs. But where TSMC has remained the uncontested leader in advanced chips, Intel has stumbled time and again.
The two will also be competing for a scarce resource in the U.S. chip industry: workers.
"When we finished the construction of this fab, it was really the first advanced manufacturing fab that had been built in the United States for at least 10 years. Semiconductors is a very, very tough technology," TSMC's Castanares said. "The experience is just not here in the United States."