Intel never in any way gave up on r&d, their main problem was failing to get their new tech working, and a couple of had bets.

The random acquisitions and board leadership didn't help intel but r&d had plenty of money poured in

We often fail to realize how cutthroat the chip business is and how many bad decisions away from oblivion all players are. It’s just that Intel is more exposed to those risks because it’s both design and foundry making risky bets.

OTOH, if TSMC makes a couple bad bets in a row, all their 500 clients will be in deep trouble.