Intel

Intel was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It created the x86 instruction set that still underpins most PC and server software.

Unlike most of its competitors, Intel both designs and manufactures chips, and it has opened that manufacturing to outside customers as Intel Foundry. Its Core processors are in a large share of the world's laptops and desktops.

The company's recent story is a manufacturing one: whether its process roadmap can close the gap with TSMC, and what the semiconductor subsidies attached to it require in return.