Intel and AMD have spent decades competing for the processors inside PCs and data centers, but the rivalry hasn't stopped the two companies from working together when their interests align. And now, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan has reportedly discussed potential areas of cooperation with AMD chief Lisa Su, adding another possible partnership to the mix as Intel tries to regain its footing in the semiconductor industry.
According to a recording (embedded below) of Tan’s October 24 fireside chat with Chinese American Semiconductor Professional Association (CASPA) President Jimmy Cheng, the Intel CEO outlined his plans to rebuild the company’s CPU business, develop chips tailored to specific customer workloads, and attract more customers to its foundry operations. However, Tan did not publicly detail the reported areas of potential cooperation with AMD CEO Lisa Su.
Intel has traditionally built its business around its own processor roadmaps, but Tan says the company needs to be more flexible as customers look for silicon designed for particular workloads. He pointed to Intel's Xeon processors as one area where that approach is changing, alongside continued development of GPUs and accelerators.
"We have to reclaim the leadership in CPU. That is something that I am very determined to do." Tan said.
He also described a change in how Intel approaches customization. "Intel is so proud they never want to modify for customer needs," he said. "I'm modifying it for customer needs, and so that, I think, to me, is a fast-growing area, and I'm double, triple down on it."
The strategy extends beyond conventional CPUs, with Tan identifying application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), co-packaged optics (CPO), physical AI, and advanced packaging as potential growth businesses. He wants two or three of these areas to eventually contribute around 10% of Intel's revenue each.
Intel's foundry business is another major part of Tan's plans. He said the company's 18A manufacturing process had reached volume production, while development of its next-generation 14A process was progressing strongly. Intel has already released version 0.5 of the 14A process design kit (PDK), which provides chip designers with the technical information and tools needed to develop products for the process.
Tan said version 0.9 was coming next, followed by version 1.0 for volume production in early 2027. "We have multiple customers [who] really want us to really scale their business," he said, referring to interest in Intel's foundry services.
However, Intel did not identify those customers or disclose the size of any potential manufacturing orders during the discussion. Notably, in January, Intel had two prospective customers evaluating 14A test chips, with firm supplier decisions expected during the second half of 2026 and the first half of 2027. Tan also described foundry manufacturing as a business where trust matters as much as technology. Customers hand over wafers that will eventually become products on which their own revenue depends, making missed deadlines or manufacturing problems costly. "The moment we take on the foundry, take on the wafer is a lot of responsibility to make them successful," he said.
He recalled one customer who had waited six to eight months hoping he would become CEO before presenting 15 areas where Intel had fallen short. Tan said he addressed the problems individually, after which the customer agreed to deepen its relationship with Intel.
That said, the prospect of further cooperation would not be entirely new. In October 2024, Intel and AMD established the x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group alongside other technology companies to coordinate improvements to the x86 instruction set architecture and make it easier for hardware and software developers to support both companies' processors.
That cooperation has since moved into AI software. Last week, it emerged that AMD was integrating its ZenDNN optimizations into Intel's open-source oneDNN library, bringing the companies' CPU optimization work for PyTorch AI inference under a common software path. The companies have also worked together on Advanced Matrix Extensions and other x86 capabilities through the advisory group, showing that they cooperate on shared technologies while continuing to compete for customers. For now, however, neither company has announced a new agreement arising from the discussions.