Overview

• CEO Lip-Bu Tan is exploring halting marketing of the costly 18A and 18A-P processes to external foundry clients
• Abandoning external 18A sales could force Intel to record write-offs amounting to hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars
• Intel will still use 18A for its own Panther Lake chips and meet existing production guarantees for Amazon and Microsoft
• The shift aims to strengthen Intel’s competitive position by focusing on the 14A node where it sees technological advantages over TSMC
• Intel’s board is scheduled to discuss the foundry strategy options this month with a potential decision deferred until an autumn meeting