Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said Monday that the company's external chip manufacturing business is gaining momentum, with multiple customers expected to commit to using the foundry in the second half of this year.
Tan made the comments on CNBC's Mad Money, telling host Jim Cramer that the foundry operation is central to the company's recovery. "Foundry is very important," Tan said. "It's one of the key national treasures."
Intel's foundry business is designed to manufacture semiconductors for outside companies, a departure from the company's historical model of producing only its own chips for personal computers and data center servers. The strategy is meant to help rebuild advanced chip production capacity inside the United States after years of overseas dominance, particularly by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Tan's predecessor, Pat Gelsinger, originally championed the approach.
Shares of Intel have surged more than 300% since Tan was appointed CEO in March 2025, reflecting investor confidence that he could stabilize the company after years of setbacks. One of the central questions facing Tan has been whether Intel could make its manufacturing capabilities competitive with TSMC.
Tan told Cramer that progress on Intel's advanced 18A manufacturing process has been significant. When he first took over, he said the 18A process was not performing well. Manufacturing yield, which measures the percentage of usable chips produced from each wafer, is a critical indicator of both profitability and customer confidence in a foundry operation.
"The best practice is to see 7% or 8% yield improvement per month, and now I'm seeing it," Tan said.
Those improvements appear to be drawing outside interest. The Wall Street Journal reported on May 8 that Intel and Apple had reached a preliminary deal for Intel to produce some of Apple's chips, which are currently made by TSMC. When Cramer asked Tan directly about those reports, the CEO declined to discuss specific customers by name.
He did confirm that commitments are expected. "Multiple customers, they are working with us," Tan said. "We are looking forward to serve them."
That timeline matches what Intel executives told investors previously. On the company's April earnings call, CFO David Zinsner said Intel expected signals from external foundry customers to become more concrete in the second half of the year and into early 2027.
Tan led chip design software maker Cadence Design Systems from 2009 to 2021 and served a two-year term on Intel's board that ended in 2024 before taking the top job at Intel.
