The new CEO of Intel is exploring a major change in chip manufacturing business

Max A. Cherney, Jeffrey Dastin and Stephen Nellis

The new CEO of San Francisco (Reuters) (INTC) is exploring major changes in the manufacturing business of his contract to win the main customers, two people familiar with the issue, Reuters said, potentially expensive to move from its predecessor’s plans.

If this were implemented, the new strategy of what Intel calls its “foundry” business is no longer able to read the external customers of certain trace element production technology that the company has long since created, said people.

Since March As part of the wheel of the company, the CEO Lip-Bu Tan quickly moved to reduce costs and find a new path to revive a heavy US chip manufacturer. By June, he began to express that the production process, which the pre -Director General, is also a great bet, known as 18A, lost its attractiveness to new customers, said sources who spoke to anonymity condition.

To eliminate the external sales of 18A and its version of 18A-P, the production processes, which cost Intel billions of dollars, will have to relax, said one of the people who met the issue. Industrial analysts contacted by Reuters said such an accusation could be hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars.

Intel refused to comment on such “hypothetical scenarios or market speculation.” He said that the main customer of 18A has long been Intel himself, and aims to increase the production of his Panther Lake laptop chips later in 2025.

To persuade external customers to use Intel factories remain the key to its future. As its 18A production process is delayed, the technology of competing TSMC N2 was preparing for production.

Preliminary Tan’s response to this challenge: focus more on the 14A-new generation of trace elements, when Intel hopes to have advantages compared to Taiwan TSMC, two sources said. This step is part of the game for big customers such as Apple and NVIDIA, who currently pay TSMC for their chips.

File Photo: Intel CEO, Lip -u Tan, speaks in California

Tan has commissioned the company to prepare a discussion with the Intel Board options when it meets this month, including whether to suspend 18A marketing for new customers, said one of two sources. The Board may not reach the decision 18A until the subsequent autumn meeting, taking into account the complexity of the case and the huge money that risks, the person said.

Intel refused to comment on what he calls rumors. According to its report, “Lip-BU and the executive team are committed to strengthening our plan, strengthening confidence in their customers and improving our financial position for the future. We have identified clear areas of attention and will take the actions needed to change the business. “

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