Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said in a tech podcast interview on June 19, titled “No Priors,” that its return target for Intel is “to achieve 10x within 5 to 10 years.” Intel’s stock price has recently risen to a record high, with a cumulative gain of more than 500% over the past year. Earlier, Trump announced on social media that Apple has agreed to work with Intel to design and manufacture chips in the United States.
Technical direction statements by Lip-Bu Tan in the No Priors podcast
In the interview, Lip-Bu Tan said that Intel is systematically restructuring its technology roadmap around advanced packaging, new semiconductor materials, and next-generation substrate technologies, viewing the following areas as key: advanced packaging technology EMIB (embedded multi-chip interconnect bridge); glass substrates; and new materials such as gallium nitride (GaN), silicon carbide (SiC), indium phosphide (InP), and synthetic diamond.
He said these technologies are solutions to address how traditional process-node scaling is approaching physical limits. At the same time, he noted that the explosion of agent AI and inference scenarios is driving a CPU demand rebound, and the true potential of Intel’s foundry business may gradually become apparent after 2030.
Intel Foundry Business Q1 Data: $5.4B in revenue, but only $174M from external customers
Intel foundry business Q1 data: total revenue of $5.4 billion, up 16% year over year; revenue from external customers is only $174 million, with the rest coming from chips made for Intel’s own products; operating loss of $2.4 billion in Q1. Lip-Bu Tan said it expects to secure early design commitments from external customers as early as the second half of 2026.
Recent business expansion includes: partnering with Nvidia; reaching a multi-billion-dollar customized AI chip deal with Amazon; and reported collaboration with Apple (neither company has formally confirmed). Intel’s 18A process began mass production in October 2025. The first laptop chip using the 18A process, Panther Lake, was launched earlier this year, and server chips were released in spring.
TSMC’s Q1 performance comparison: +41% YoY, 66.2% gross margin, capacity remains in short supply
TSMC Q1 data: revenue of $35.9 billion (up about 41% year over year), gross margin of 66.2%, and operating profit margin of about 58%; management raised full-year guidance, and it now expects 2026 full-year dollar-denominated revenue growth of more than 30%; capital expenditure budget cap of $52B to $56B. TSMC currently controls about 70% of the pure-play wafer foundry market, and more than 90% of global production of leading-edge chips.
In TSMC Chairman and CEO Wei Zhiqiang’s Q1 earnings call, he said demand is “very strong, especially in high-performance computing and artificial intelligence applications,” and added that “although it has accelerated equipment allocation, supply is still very tight.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Intel foundry business revenue from external customers only $174 million?
According to the article, of Intel’s $5.4 billion revenue in Q1 from its foundry business, the vast majority came from chips Intel produced for its own products, while revenue from external customers was only $174 million (about 3.2%). This reflects that Intel’s transition to external foundry customers is still in an early stage; after 18A process mass production, external orders still need time to convert into actual revenue.
Has Apple’s collaboration with Intel been formally confirmed?
According to the report, Trump announced the cooperation on social media, but the article also states that “neither company has formally confirmed it.” TSMC remains the primary foundry for Apple’s most advanced chips. Even Intel itself still relies on TSMC to produce many of its latest products.
Is TSMC facing a real threat from Intel?
Based on the article’s analysis, TSMC currently controls about 70% of the pure-play wafer foundry market and 90%+ of leading-edge chip production. Q1 gross margin is as high as 66.2%, and demand continues to exceed capacity. The Motley Fool analyst believes that TSMC’s technical lead advantage is measured in “years” rather than “quarters.” Even if Intel continues to catch up, TSMC’s competitive barriers are still unlikely to be shaken in the short term.
