It does mean GF is on the path to long slow decline. The decision was not "we will wait 5-10 years" but "we will not develop any new processes".
I don't fault them for failing to predict the chip shortage and huge opportunity to acquire customers that would result. The fact remains: they will eventually fade away.
Yeah, that was my reading at the time. But lots of companies have gone that direction, closing down major lines of business because they couldn't make money at them anymore. I mean, you probably remember this, but IBM used to make computers. Intel started out making RAM. HP used to make working products.
I don't fault them for failing to predict the chip shortage and huge opportunity to acquire customers that would result. The fact remains: they will eventually fade away.