TSMC board member: Intel and TSMC combo like “mixing diesel and gasoline”

A TSMC board member has poured cold water on rumors that his firm will somehow get involved with Intel. Speaking to Taiwanese lawmakers, Paul Liu likened such a move to “mixing diesel with gasoline,” Digitimes reports. He added that the foundry’s board has never discussed it.

Separately, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang denied having been approached to take a stake in Intel, addressing rumors that TSMC along with key fabless customers would team up to keep the US chipmaker’s manufacturing division afloat. “There might be a party. I wasn’t invited,” he quipped about such an alliance.

Newly appointed Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan hasn’t explicitly addressed a potential tie-up, although official communications suggest that he has no intention to split up the company. “We will work hard to restore Intel’s position as a world-class products company, establish ourselves as a world-class foundry and delight our customers like never before. That’s what this moment demands of us as we remake Intel for the future,” he wrote in a message to employees.