While that argument makes sense from a purely philosophical perspective, it doesn’t hold water in the reality of this situation.
Nobody is entering the chip making business and growing to a size and scale to compete with Intel in 2025. If they collapse tomorrow there aren’t going to be startups filling in the gaps, there’s just going to be massive shortages of chips and chaos.
...no? Did you see me say nobody would buy the assets in a scenario where Intel was actually going bankrupt?
I said if by some magic Intel ceased to exist tomorrow, there wouldn't be some startup just filling the gap. So the idea that government investment in Intel somehow prevents a startup competitor is just nonsense. To compete with Intel would require trillions in investment and probably a decade+ of time to build the requisite organization and talent.
The government investment to prevent the catastrophe that would result in them declaring bankruptcy and the subsequent breakup of their assets has no bearing on whether or not a startup could replace them.
You are saying that if intel went under, Musk or some other wouldn’t buy the assets and have a go?