Maybe it's because hiring Taiwanese R&D people cost way less than hiring in the U.S. I live in Taiwan and I have friends with master degree in EE who work for TSMC for 5-10 years and none of them getting close to 100k a year.
Normally thst could be a factor, but look at how insignificant it is.
Intel spent 13 billion on R&D last year, and had $26 billion left over ebitda profit still. You can argue a different profit number than ebitda should be used, but pick any one you want, they’re all massive.
Say your friends make 50k salary (just for arguments sake and let’s not calculate a fully burdened salary for simplicity).
If 1,000 Intel engineers were averaging 150k in the US, the difference would only be 100MM.
That is so insignificant to them, they couule use it as fire wood just for fun. So it can’t be higher labor costs.
My best guess is they made a few “big bets” that went wrong and cost them dearly. Or there’s always the old standby thst the wrong leadership is in place at the EVP/VP levels and it’s had a negative ripple effect.
