SAN FRANCISCO, March 5, 2026, 03:46 PST
- Intel’s CFO says the CEO is now considering whether to keep offering the 18A chipmaking process as a foundry service for outside customers.
- The move could change the company’s foundry pitch, offering a new angle as it tries to fill its factories and catch up with competitors.
- A few days before these remarks surfaced, Intel revealed its board chair transition—a move tied to the company’s ongoing turnaround efforts.
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan is weighing whether to make the company’s 18A manufacturing process available to outside clients, reversing last year’s stance that kept the technology focused on Intel’s own chips, CFO David Zinsner said Wednesday. Shares climbed about 6% as chip stocks moved higher. 1
There’s no mistaking the stakes. For Intel, a real turnaround hangs on consistently making cutting-edge chips—and persuading others to trust that production. The foundry strategy, where Intel manufactures chips for outside clients, hinges on one thing: deliver strong yields and ship when promised. Without that, customers stay away.
Tan figures 18A is really only viable if Intel uses it internally; he’d rather see the foundry business focus on 14A. Still, Zinsner’s recent comments suggest 18A may be close to a point where Intel is more comfortable pitching it to outside customers.
“At least now,” Zinsner told the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom conference in San Francisco, Tan is “starting to recognize” 18A as “a good node to offer to external customers.”
Intel has bragged about stronger yields — meaning more usable chips per silicon wafer — but when those yields fall short, gross margins take a hit and shipments slow down. That history has put some would-be customers on edge.
On the governance front, Intel disclosed in a filing that board chair Frank Yeary will retire after the 2026 annual meeting. At that point, Craig H. Barratt, already serving as director, is slated to assume the chair role.
Wall Street’s reaction to the board changes has been blunt. “I think his departure was long overdue,” Seaport Securities analyst Jay Goldberg told Reuters. Goldberg added that a more professional board could be Tan’s chance to address both execution and culture issues. 2
Intel’s move to let others tap its 18A tech—not just its own teams—could up the pressure on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the dominant player in contract chip production. Foundry competitors, also chasing those much-prized, multi-year deals, are watching closely.
Tan plans to keep close watch over Intel’s factories, working to land customers for 14A, the chipmaker’s next manufacturing swing. But as chatter circles 18A, attention snaps to the bigger question: will Intel translate those process improvements into real business?
Still, pushing 18A out to a broader set of customers carries its own set of dangers. If yields end up falling short of Intel’s forecasts, or if buyers hold off on big commitments, the company could double down on engineering and fabs and end up with a process node that mostly just feeds its own pipeline.
Investors aren’t settling for talk from the conference stage. They want to see evidence—tangible yield progress, customer signings, plus exact timelines for when those external chips hit meaningful shipment levels.
