The scale gap between the two companies remains stark. A recent Forbes analysis shows TSMC generated $35.9 billion in foundry revenue in Q1 2026, versus Intel Foundry's $5.4 billion — with Intel drawing only around $174 million, roughly 3%, from external customers. TSMC's market cap of approximately $1.86 trillion is nearly three times Intel's current valuation.

Tan has framed Intel's foundry push in national-security terms. "Intel's foundry business is a strategic national asset because more than 90% of advanced processors are made outside the U.S.," he told CNBC on May 20. On Intel's process roadmap, he has said the 18A node is "the most innovative process node in Intel's history," while acknowledging that scaling it with customer-grade consistency remains the central challenge.

Not everyone on Wall Street is convinced that deeper Intel-TSMC collaboration is the answer. Citi analysts previously called a proposed joint venture "the wrong move," reflecting genuine disagreement about whether partnership would accelerate or undermine Intel's foundry independence.

Tan's Taiwan trip is also part of a broader wave of U.S. chip-CEO visits to Taipei. Nvidia's Jensen Huang arrived on May 23 for meetings with TSMC over Vera Rubin AI chip capacity, while AMD's Lisa Su is also expected at COMPUTEX, which opens June 1.