Intel chief executive Lip-Bu Tan says Chipzilla must regain CPU leadership and listen to customers, some of whom apparently received lectures instead of solutions.
Speaking at a Chinese American Semiconductor Professional Association’s fireside chat on 24 October, Tan described changes to Intel’s product strategy and foundry operations.
He said he was “very determined” to reclaim CPU leadership, while putting more effort into customised silicon, including Xeon processors tailored to customers’ workloads.
“Intel is so proud they never want to modify for customer need,” Tan said.
An unusual sales strategy, although explaining why the customer is wrong presumably saves time otherwise wasted improving the product.
Tan said he was doubling and tripling down on customisation. His wider priorities include graphics processors, accelerators and application-specific chips.
He identified ASICs, physical AI, and advanced packaging as businesses that could become major revenue contributors.
On manufacturing, Tan said Intel’s 18A process was already in volume production. Its next-generation 14A technology has reached the PDK 0.5 stage, with version 0.9 approaching and version 1.0 expected early next year.
A process design kit supplies the models, design rules and other information engineers need to develop chips for a manufacturing process.
More mature kits let customers progress toward final designs and tape-outs. Their release alone does not establish that a process has reached high-volume manufacturing, so the timetable should not be read as a confirmed early-2027 production launch for 14A.
Tan said multiple customers wanted Intel to help scale their businesses, but stressed that foundry work required a cultural change.
Customers depend on a manufacturing partner to deliver chips that sustain their revenue. Winning that business requires trust, suitable intellectual property and engineers who pay attention.
Tan illustrated the problem with an unnamed customer who had waited six to eight months, hoping he would become Intel’s chief executive.
Once he arrived, the customer presented 15 areas where Intel had fallen short. Previous management had allegedly ignored the complaints and sometimes lectured the customer.
Tan said he worked through the problems individually, rebuilding enough confidence for the customer to deepen the relationship.
Separately, Tan reportedly discussed potential cooperation with AMD chief executive Lisa Su. No specific project or agreement was disclosed in the supplied account.
The comments arrive alongside sweeping KeyBanc claims about Intel’s foundry prospects, based on the investment bank’s channel checks.
KeyBanc reportedly believes Intel has secured networking-switch work from Broadcom, server CPU business from Google and Microsoft, and gaming GPU manufacturing from Nvidia.
It further claims that Apple has agreed to a multi-generation arrangement covering M-series and A-series chips on 14A. Those remain analyst claims, with no customer confirmations established by the supplied material.
Other potential customers, including Amazon, Anthropic and the SpaceX/Tesla Terafab project, are reportedly evaluating Intel’s 18A-P and 14A processes.
Advanced packaging remains another execution challenge. Tan said his priorities for EMIB-T included capacity, yields and manufacturing cycle times.
KeyBanc estimates EMIB-T substrate yields at between 50 and 60 per cent at Ibiden, compared with between 20 and 30 per cent at UMTC.
