A deal could value GlobalFoundries at around $30 billion, and there are no guarantees that Intel will pull it off.

GlobalFoundries is owned by Mubadala Investment Co, an investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government, but based in the US.  GlobalFoundries itself has not even been involved in the talks so far, and the company appears to have been caught on the hop a bit.

Intel's new Chief Executive, Kicking Pat Gelsinger, in March said the company would launch a major push to become a chip manufacturer for others, a market dominated by TSMC.

Intel has a market value of around $225 billion, and has pledged more than $20 billion in investments to expand chip-making facilities in the US and Gelsinger has said more commitments domestically and abroad are in the works.

Of course, buying GloFo will not improve the chip shortage, it will just resolve Intel’s problems and it is not clear where its ownership will leave GloFo's customers.