Intel continues to see increased confidence for its upcoming Foundry technologies, such as 18A-P, 14A, and EMIB.
Apple & Google Will Reportedly Leverage Intel Foundry 18A-P & EMIB Technologies, 14A Customers Also Lining Up.
The Agentic AI and Inferencing boom has led to a significant surge in CPU demand. This has led major semiconductor companies such as TSMC to face severe supply constraints, all the while going on a large-scale expansion spree to meet demand. At the same time, Intel has been driving revenue up by selling off salvaged dies, but the company is also attracting the attention of various external customers for its next-gen process and advanced packaging technologies.
We have already shared how some big customers are lining up to leverage Intel's 14A technology. EMIB is also shaping up nicely with its advanced packaging features, showcasing real benefits versus CoWoS from TSMC.
Supply chain sources indicate that some customers have already begun test chip verification for the 18A process, with related processes gradually being completed and the 18A-P process being deployed simultaneously. As the PDK matures, customer adoption is significantly increasing. It is understood that companies including Google and Apple will begin using Intel's foundry services for some products next year.
China Times (Machine Translated)
Although Intel is not naming any big Foundry deals at the moment besides Elon Musk's TeraFab and AI chips, which will leverage the 14A node, it looks like supply chain sources have revealed what Intel has been keeping behind the doors.
As per China Times, several customers have already begun test chip verification on the 18A process tech, showcasing increased confidence in existing technologies. These test chips will pave the way for Intel to offer deployment readiness close to the completion of its 18A-P process technology, which is an improved version of 18A. At the same time, the 18A PDK continues its maturity stage, and 14A is also expected to see its PDK 0.9 by the end of this year.
Intel's 18A-P process node provides an 8% increase in performance per watt while keeping the same density levels as 18A.
Right now, a big-name customer that is expected to utilize the 18A-P process technology is Apple, and will reportedly leverage the process technology for its next-gen "M" chips for client applications. Google has also shown interest in the EMIB advanced packaging solution for its upcoming TPUv8e chip.
During its recent earnings call, Intel highlighted that 18A HVM has already been achieved with Panther Lake and is now going to drive revenue up as Panther Lake is expected to take over the retail segments. Intel's CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, will also be hosting a keynote at Computex 2026, where we are likely to hear more details on the Foundry business plans.
About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.
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