Developing new semiconductors isn’t an easy job and it requires a substantial amount of investment. This is why Intel spent a whopping $16.55 billion last year in R&D, but unfortunately, the company is still falling behind competitors like Samsung and TSMC.
Intel falls behind Samsung and TSMC, despite hefty R&D
According to a report from Korean publication JoongAng Daily, it revealed that Samsung increased its R&D spending back in 2024. The Korean tech giant spent $9.5 billion, which is a 71.3% increase from $5.5 billion in 2023. This amount basically pushed Samsung from seventh place to third place in terms of total R&D spending.
However, Intel still tops that list when it comes to R&D spending, but despite the amount the company poured into itself, its growth rate paled in comparison to Samsung and TSMC. Intel’s growth in 2024 was just 3.1%. This suggests that the company, even though they’re spending so much, is finding it hard to catch up to the competition.
It’s not surprising that Intel is struggling to find ground. The company was slow to adapt to the growing mobile scene. This allowed its competitors, like Qualcomm, to dominate. It also allowed other companies like Samsung and TSMC to start taking over the semiconductor fabrication space.
Intel and Samsung are actually very much alike. Both companies design their own chips and have the facilities to produce them. However, Intel has been struggling on both fronts. Intel’s CPUs are still very much relevant today, but the rise of Arm-powered chipsets like Apple Silicon show that there are alternatives beyond Intel’s x86 platform.
Trump to the rescue?
That being said, we wouldn’t be so quick to discount Intel just yet. Intel was one of the recipients of the US government’s CHIPS Act. This gave the company an injection of cash to further its development. Recently, a report also suggested that the Trump administration is considering helping Intel with the production of advanced chips in the US.
Even Samsung is mulling an investment in the company. Samsung faces similar competition from TSMC, whose customers include Apple, Qualcomm, NVIDIA, AMD, and more. The company is hoping its investment in Intel would allow them to better compete with TSMC.
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