The Geopolitical Poker Game
For decades, the world happily outsourced its most critical manufacturing. We built a wonderfully efficient, yet terrifyingly fragile, global supply chain. Then, a few geopolitical spats and a pandemic later, governments woke up and realised that having all your essential microchips made on a single island might not be the most brilliant long term strategy. Suddenly, "supply chain resilience" became the new buzzword in the corridors of power.
This is the context for SoftBank’s move. It’s a vote of confidence not just in Intel, but in the broader push for domestic chip production. The Americans have their CHIPS Act, the Europeans have theirs, and everyone is scrambling to bring manufacturing back home. This isn’t about economics anymore, it’s about national security. And when governments start throwing billions at a problem, a river of capital flows through the entire ecosystem.