Former Intel CEO Craig Barrett laid out a plan to save the ailing firm, highlighting a call to arms for both the US government and the embattled chipmaker.

In a self-penned piece for Fortune, Barrett shared a multi-point proposal to restore Intel to its former glory and rescue America’s advanced chip manufacturing.

The commentary comes as Intel is in the headlines while restructuring under the current CEO, Lip-Bu Tan.

Last week saw US President Donald Trump call for Tan’s resignation over alleged links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Tan refuted the allegations and has since visited the White House for an audience with the president.

Prior to the allegations, Intel had made a series of moves in an effort to shore up its foundry business. July saw the chip giant exit the networking business by announcing it is dismantling its Network and Edge Group (NEX), which came amid the shelving of proposed factory plans in Europe, the closure of its automotive business, and multiple layoffs.

Former board members have gone as far as to suggest Intel should divest its entire manufacturing business. Barrett, who served as Intel's CEO from 1998 to 2005, poured cold water on the idea as part of his 10-point plan to save Intel.

Call to remember Intel’s strategic importance

Barrett argued that Intel remains the only US chipmaker capable of providing the country “state of the art logic manufacturing.”

Past deals to develop custom ASICs for the US government – embedding advanced, hardware-accelerated encryption into network devices and infrastructure – reflect Intel’s status on the playing field.

“The USA NEEDS INTEL,” Barrett stressed, in all caps.

A reminder on foreign fab investment (or lack thereof)

Touching on the increasing shadow of foreign fabs setting up in the US, Barrett underlined that rivals such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) are not planning to bring their state-of-the-art manufacturing to the country in the near term.

Samsung recently delayed construction at its proposed chip fab in Taylor, Texas, stalling another possible investment from abroad – and underscoring Intel’s all-American USP.

A message to big tech

Intel’s former chief also wrote that US big tech customers like Nvidia, Apple, and Google “should understand they need a second source for their lead product manufacturing due to pricing, geographic stability, and supply line security reasons.” The companies currently rely on TSMC for manufacturing.

Recent KPMG research reported that 35 percent of semiconductor insiders cite supply chain disruption, driven by increasingly protectionist policies, as one of the top three issues facing the industry.

In response, Apple recently announced plans to invest an extra $100 billion under its American Manufacturing Program to secure a domestic chip supply chain. Its partners on the investment include Broadcom, GlobalFoundries (GF), Samsung, and TSMC, with no sign of Intel.

Don’t solely count on the US government

Intel has been awarded $8.5 billion from the "US CHIPS and Science Act" – but Barrett said this cash infusion won’t be enough for the firm as it is unable to invest in the capacity needed in the future to replace TSMC capacity.

“They probably need a cash infusion of $40 billion or so to be competitive," Barrett wrote. "Realistically, that investment is 100 percent of the CHIPS Act Capital grants so [it's] unlikely the [US government] is the savior.”

Customers should step up

As a solution, the plan suggests customers should step up to aid Intel.

“The only place the cash can come from is the customers," Barrett wrote. "They are all cash-rich, and if eight of them were willing to invest $5 billion each, then Intel would have a chance.”

There have been no signs of client investment so far – more commonplace are reports that rival TSMC is looking to fund a joint venture to acquire Intel’s foundry division.

Ericsson, meanwhile, is reportedly eyeing up investment in Intel's NEX division.

Don’t be a laggard: invest now

Recent divestments such as the spinouts of AI-centered units Articul8 and RealSense have shown Intel is willing to move away from the du jour exploration of artificial intelligence as part of its downsizing.

Taking aim at present-day leadership, Lip-Bu Tan’s predecessor argued that the current CEO's comments about “not investing in new technology until customers sign up is a joke.”

“To win in this space, you need to be the leader in technology not the follower,” Barrett explained, adding that for a realistic shot at leadership, the company needs to invest as soon as possible in new technologies.

More tariffs

Barrett reiterated that customers should invest in Intel, with the US government placing a 50 percent tariff on state-of-the-art semiconductor imports.

“If we can support domestic steel and aluminum, surely we can support domestic semiconductors,” he said, commenting on the current "America First" mentality of the Trump administration.

Don’t break up Intel

In response to former board members suggesting Intel should divest its entire manufacturing business, Craig Barrett’s response was simple: “Be serious.”

“There are many company interactions that involve both supply and competition,” he wrote. “It is also extremely hard to imagine Intel really competing with the likes of Nvidia, Apple, Meta, Google, Dell, etc., in their well-established product lines.”

In further bad news for Tan, those same veterans also called for Intel to appoint a new board and a new CEO. Barrett’s plan did not touch on how essential Tan and the current board would be to the investment-heavy Intel of his vision.

Barrett, though, ended his 10-point plan by saying it was time for the Intel board to “finally do something positive for the company.”