By Jaspreet Singh, Max A. Cherney and Sayantani Ghosh

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump is injecting nearly $9 billion into Intel in exchange for a 9.9% equity stake. But the money - which the struggling chipmaker was slated to receive anyway under a federal funding act - will not be enough for its contract-chipmaking business to flourish, analysts said.

What Intel needs is external customers for its so-called cutting-edge 14A manufacturing process - a tough ask, at least in the short term.

CEO Lip Bu Tan, who took the top job in March, warned last month that the company may have to quit the chip contracting business if it does not land any big clients. "Going forward, our investment in Intel 14A will be based on confirmed customer commitments," he said.

Kinngai Chan

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