The bombshell decision has thrown a spanner in the works for the US Commerce Department, now scrambling to plug the financial gap left for the US CHIPs and Science Act.

Initially, the Commerce Department was only responsible for €920 million of the €3.2 billion that Intel was counting on to bolster its advanced defence and intelligence-related semiconductor production.

This deal was set to crown Intel as the go-to supplier for high-stakes military and intelligence tech, potentially carving out a Secure Enclave within Chipzilla’s chip-making empire. However, with the Pentagon's unexpected exit, future funding from the CHIPs Act for Intel and its rivals hangs in the balance.

Intel's head honcho, Pat Gelsinger, hinted last month at an imminent windfall from Uncle Sam, yet the details remained as elusive.

Intel's stock enjoyed a modest uptick of 0.8 per cent but tumbled 0.5 per cent after hours following the news.

President Biden's signature on the €48.8 billion CHIPs Act last August was hailed as a game-changer aimed at supercharging the economy and luring semiconductor production back to American shores.

With industry behemoth Taiwan Semiconductor at the helm, Taiwan lords over the semiconductor manufacturing realm, boasting 59 per cent of the sector's revenue in the third quarter of 2023.

But since the act's fanfare debut 18 months ago, the White House has been dragging its feet, doling out the dough to eager applicants at a snail's pace.

Defence giant BAE Systems snagged the first CHIPs Act jackpot, trousering €32.2 million to spruce up its microelectronics hub in Nashua, New Hampshire, last December.

Microchip Technology didn't miss out either, bagging €149 million in January, with €82.8 million earmarked for its Colorado Springs plant and another €66.2 million to beef up its Gresham, Oregon factory.

Not to be outdone, GlobalFoundries, a fierce competitor in the chip-making arena, landed a hefty €1.38 billion just last month to supersize its Malta, New York facility. The chips are down, and the race is on in the high-stakes world of semiconductor supremacy.