If the United States is to regain its position in the global semiconductor industry, it may need help from bankers as much as engineers. Intel Corp’s bold new plan to expand capacity and get into the foundry business, as well as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s pledge to build a new fab in Arizona, are both welcome news. That’s particularly the ...

Texas’ blackouts might yet claim another victim: the merchant generation sector. Vistra Corp and NRG Energy Inc face big bills arising from the state’s February freeze. Worse, those bills somehow came as a big shock. At first, Vistra’s stock jumped as it was expected to clean up on power-price spikes. Such hopes were reinforced by a big dividend increase — ...

One thing that quickly became apparent after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the fleeting collapse in financial markets is that big US banks, the villains of the previous crisis, were determined to be the good guys this time around. No job cuts in 2020. Deferred payments on credit cards and mortgages without repercussions. You name it, the likes ...