Intel Foundry Snags AMD, NVIDIA, and OpenAI as Design Wins on 18A & 14A Nodes While EMIB Achieves 98% Yields

Intel has reportedly secured some big wins with its 18A, 14A, and EMIB process / advanced packaging technologies, signaling massive interest in its Foundry business.

Tech Heavyweights Are Lining Up To See What Intel Foundry Has To Offer As 18A, 14A & EMIB Technologies See Heightened Interest

TSMC has so far been the only semiconductor manufacturer to offer bleeding-edge processes and packaging technology, but Intel has quickly emerged as a fierce competitor. Intel has only launched its 18A node, which is already achieving volume ramp, and is working towards its more advanced 18A-P (In Risk Production) and 14A nodes (Risk Production in 2028, Volume in 2029).

All three of these nodes play a vital role in the company's Foundry ventures. We have heard some big names already, and it looks like Intel has already secured design wins for some heavyweight customers.

18A & 14A - Major Wins Rumored

As per KeyBanc Capital Markets and FactSet, Intel has found exceptional success with its next-gen process technologies, including 18A (18A-P) and 14A. As per the report, it is rumored that Intel Foundry has secured design wins with AMD, NVIDIA, Marvell, Microsoft, Micron, and OpenAI. That is a huge list of external customers who will be leveraging Intel nodes as TSMC remains unable to meet demand for everyone due to heightened shortages, turning Intel into a suitable alternative.

Intel is also ramping up production of products based on existing nodes. 18A yields are said to have improved up to 85% versus 65% in the previous quarter, trailing right behind TSMC's 90% yields for its N2 (2nm) process technology while being much ahead of Samsung's SF2 yields, which are reported at 50-60%.

The company has already stated to flood the markets with more Panther Lake and Wildcat Lake options later this year as the 18A ramp continues, and on the DC (Data Center) side, Intel is expanding its Intel 4 and Intel 3 capacity as Agentic AI is expected to drive its CPU segment up 25-30% this year and an additional 50% in the coming year.

EMIB Achieves the 98% Yield "Gold Standard"

Another key technology that Intel possesses is EMIB and its variations, including the enhanced EMIB-T and efficiency-optimized EMIB-M. These advanced packaging solutions pose a significant threat to TSMC's CoWoS, which is facing significant supply constraints, while TSMC is moving to CoPoS (Fan-Out Panel-Level Packaging).

Intel is doing the same with the more advanced glass substrate packaging route, which will be made at its Rio Rancho facility (termed as the Glass Substrate Crown Jewel), enabling more & larger reticle dies in a cost-optimized and flexible configuration that will be made possible through EMIB bridges.

As per the same report, Intel's EMIB-T has reached a "rumored" 98% yield. Just three months ago, Intel's EMIB yields were reported at 90%.

Embedded Multi-die Interconnect Bridge 2.5D.

• An efficient, cost-effective way to connect multiple complex dies.
• 2.5D packaging for logic-logic and logic-high bandwidth memory (HBM).
• EMIB-M features MIM capacitors in the bridge. EMIB-T adds TSVs to the bridge.
• Silicon bridge embedded in package substrate for shoreline-to-shoreline connection.
• EMIB-T can ease the enablement of IP integration from other packaging designs.
• Simplified supply chain and assembly process.
• Production proven: In mass production since 2017 with Intel and external silicon.

This is the kind of breakthrough that was required for Intel to be on par with TSMC in the packaging department, as the final 98-99 percent yield is the hardest to achieve, and TSMC was already there. If true, this means that fabless chipmakers will now have more confidence in Intel, and this might be the reason why many more are lining up at IFS's doors.

Some alleged customers for Intel's EMIB packaging currently include NVIDIA (Feynman GPU), Google (TPU HumuFish), and Amazon (AWS Trainium 3).

There's no doubt that CEO Lip-Bu Tan has turned around Intel Foundry Services and keeps on solidifying the business by hiring industry veterans.

Intel's foundry business is showing strong momentum, with 18A yields solidly reaching 85% and 14A on track for mass production in 2H28. This progress, combined with competitive pricing dynamics and surging AI-driven demand, has prompted Intel to insource 80-90% of Nova Lake tiles, expand capacity significantly on 18A and Intel 3, and secure major design wins with Apple, AMD, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Meta, OpenAI, and others. These positive developments support Intel's robust revenue and EPS growth through 2030, fueled by foundry expansion and high-margin EMIB-T ramp.

News Sources: John Intel , @Alex_Intel_

Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.