April 3 (Reuters) - Intel ( INTC ) and Taiwan

Semiconductor Manufacturing Co ( TSM ) have recently discussed

a preliminary agreement to form a joint venture to operate the

U.S. chipmaker's factories, the Information reported on

Thursday, citing two people involved in the discussions.

TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, will take a

20% stake in the new company, the report said.

The White House and Commerce department officials have been

pressing TSMC and Intel ( INTC ) to strike a deal to resolve the

long-running crisis at Intel ( INTC ), the report added.

Intel ( INTC ) and TSMC declined to comment, while the White House

did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Reuters reported in March that TSMC had pitched Nvidia ( NVDA )

, Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ) and Broadcom ( AVGO )

to take stakes in a joint venture that would operate Intel's ( INTC )

factories, after the U.S. administration requested the Taiwanese

chipmaking giant to help turn around the troubled U.S. icon.

Intel ( INTC ) in March appointed former board member and chip

industry veteran Lip-Bu Tan as its CEO to revive its fortunes

after it missed out on the artificial intelligence-driven

semiconductor boom while plowing billions of dollars into

building out its chip-making business.

The company's efforts to manufacture chips for external

clients have faced challenges as it fell short of providing the

level of customer and technical service as rival TSMC, leading

to delays and failed tests, former executives have told Reuters.

Intel ( INTC ) reported 2024 net loss of $18.8 billion, its first

since 1986, driven by large impairments.

Shares of the company lost 60% of their value in 2024,

compared with an over 23% rise in the benchmark S&P 500

index.

The shares have recovered some of those losses this year and

are up nearly 12%.

Last month, TSMC said at a press event that it plans to make

a fresh $100 billion investment in the U.S. that involves

building five additional chip facilities.

(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini

Ganguli)