Earlier quoted context omitted.
~70% of US budget goes in health, welfare, eduction and social security. US is not anti socialist by any stretch.
And defense
The number is excluding defence.
Intel to Receive $8.5B in Grants to Build Chip Plants
31–40 of 657 posts
Re: Intel to Receive $8.5B in Grants to Build Chip Plants
#32In the past 15 years Intel has spent almost $100 billion on stock buybacks. They don't need the money. This is a pure transfer of wealth from taxpayers to the rich. And they're getting more like $20 billion not once you include loans, etc. The wealthy make massive amounts of money, take it out for themselves, and then complain that they don't have capital. That's pure junk. And then we wonder why Biden's approval rat…
> In the past 15 years Intel has spent almost $100 billion on stock buybacks. This is the main reason that I dislike stock buy backs, they reduce R&D investment. If you want to give your investors a prize, pay a dividend. Otherwise, invest in your company!
Stock-buy backs are basically just dividends with a better tax treatment.
Re: Intel to Receive $8.5B in Grants to Build Chip Plants
#33I just don't get it - the country has over $34 Trillion in debt already and we are handing out money to mega-rich corporations who don't need the money (among other things we waste money on). This is not going to end well - our kids and grand kids will be paying for it.
People have been repeating this tired trope for decades and yet we persist. The US doesn't even have the worst debt load of developed countries and ones that are significantly worse are still operating fine!
Re: Intel to Receive $8.5B in Grants to Build Chip Plants
#34It's unlikely at this stage it's possible to bootstrap a company that makes CPUs, GPUs, etc, so it seems to me the US government wants to hedge their bets and keep Intel alive for now. $25B in total is a small price to pay for that. That being said, I would've preferred it's not Intel that gets the life-line.
Intel is the only domestic candidate. Global foundries stepped back from high end semi production about a decade ago, leaving only Intel. And besides Intel, there are only two other companies on Earth; TSMC and Samsung.
And all rely on ASML, though some of their EUV stuff was in part tech transfer from a US government collab that included Intel (EUV LLC), and that's why we have still have some security veto over selling EUV machines to China.
Re: Intel to Receive $8.5B in Grants to Build Chip Plants
#35I just don't get it - the country has over $34 Trillion in debt already and we are handing out money to mega-rich corporations who don't need the money (among other things we waste money on). This is not going to end well - our kids and grand kids will be paying for it.
If you're this worried about tens of billions of dollars going to Intel, I have some news for you about the military industrial complex.
I guess in your mind it is not possible for both things to be bad? As long as we have the bogeyman of the DOD budget, any money spent that is even a penny less than the DOD budget is OK, is that how you see things?
Re: Intel to Receive $8.5B in Grants to Build Chip Plants
#36I just don't get it - the country has over $34 Trillion in debt already and we are handing out money to mega-rich corporations who don't need the money (among other things we waste money on). This is not going to end well - our kids and grand kids will be paying for it.
It would extremely difficult to make an educated case that having domestic cutting edge semiconductor manufacturing ability is a "waste of money".
and yet INTC has been in business for decades, profitable the whole time, producing chips without this grotesque handout of taxpayer monies.
They have already used their excess profits - many $10's of billions of dollars in recent years, for stock buybacks, but apparently they really, really need this money from taxpayers to stay a going concern.
Re: Intel to Receive $8.5B in Grants to Build Chip Plants
#37Glad to see so many people pissed off. Nothing will change but it's good to see so much information and callouts of corporate welfare.
Why pissed off? Intel is the one with experience and the US is desperate de-risking TSMC and control more of the chip as chips is one of the most important resources now and in future. Would they give it to Y-combinator startups? If Yes they would be a fraction of it, Intel earned this by being American and being the cornerstone of American Chip business for past few decades
Re: Intel to Receive $8.5B in Grants to Build Chip Plants
#38I just don't get it - the country has over $34 Trillion in debt already and we are handing out money to mega-rich corporations who don't need the money (among other things we waste money on). This is not going to end well - our kids and grand kids will be paying for it.
People have been repeating this tired trope for decades and yet we persist. The US doesn't even have the worst debt load of developed countries and ones that are significantly worse are still operating fine!
you mean other than the rampant inflation we are seeing now - and will almost certainly get worse - everything is fine?
Re: Intel to Receive $8.5B in Grants to Build Chip Plants
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
> In the past 15 years Intel has spent almost $100 billion on stock buybacks. This is the main reason that I dislike stock buy backs, they reduce R&D investment. If you want to give your investors a prize, pay a dividend. Otherwise, invest in your company!
Stock-buy backs are basically just dividends with a better tax treatment.
There is also the benefit to any exec whose compensation is related to a rising stock price, right?
Re: Intel to Receive $8.5B in Grants to Build Chip Plants
#40In the past 15 years Intel has spent almost $100 billion on stock buybacks. They don't need the money. This is a pure transfer of wealth from taxpayers to the rich. And they're getting more like $20 billion not once you include loans, etc. The wealthy make massive amounts of money, take it out for themselves, and then complain that they don't have capital. That's pure junk. And then we wonder why Biden's approval rat…
> In the past 15 years Intel has spent almost $100 billion on stock buybacks. This is the main reason that I dislike stock buy backs, they reduce R&D investment. If you want to give your investors a prize, pay a dividend. Otherwise, invest in your company!
Buybacks and dividends are the same thing. Money leaves the company to go to shareholders. Neither is better/worse for R&D.