They're getting $5.5bn in tax breaks, and loans for $11bn on generous terms too. Their total support package from the CHIPS money is $25bn. Intel are putting in $75bn, taking the total project to $100bn.
It sounds like the Surface Pro 10 will be a good example. Early reviews of the Snapdragon X Elite sound promising. It wouldn't take much for others to start making competitive offerings as well.
Not all software is compatible with arm64. Specifically I would be worried about attempting to run Windows applications not compiled for arm64, for which there are many. The compatibility layer Windows ships comes at a significant performance impact.
A strong percentage of Intel's current sales are vendor lockin from the historical "Wintel" age (windows + intel). This is a moat Apple finally crossed after great effort, and Windows has made a few attempts to cross.
If chips were sold purely on hardware specs and not software lockin then Intel would have much fewer sales. The US giving grants, tax credits, and cheap loans to Intel only serves to extend the lifespan of a company whose compeitive edge is failing.
These grants are for a completely different side of the business. The fab side, and that side is strategically significant for the US government so it makes sense they put some money in. The rest of the world is doing the exact same as well.
Given that their parts have been, up until the past 5 years, clearly better than AMDs (and any other chip manufacturer), and in the last 5 merely competitive, that’s quite the statement. Nevermind that with Gaudi, they also have the only viable AI accelerator besides Nvidia and AMD.
I would've expected it to be at least disguised as a tax break or something. ('No tax on US-manufactured chips' or whatever.)