STOCKS | Intel Seeks to Break TSMC's Foundry Dominance as CPU Demand Surges

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said the industry must break TSMC's dominance in the global foundry market and spread orders across multiple suppliers to meet rising demand for AI chips. According to Sina Finance, he also said CPU demand has surged and will continue to create supply shortages. Tan made the remarks in a keynote speech at the Splunk.conf26 conference in Denver, Colorado, on the 14th. He said it is crucial to have chip design, manufacturing, and advanced packaging capabilities at the same time, and added that Intel is an iconic industry company in the United States and globally. Tan said foundry manufacturing is difficult and requires top-tier process technology, strict control of yield, defects, production cycles, and process variation, as well as intellectual property and electronic design automation tools to serve customers. He also said advanced packaging is a top priority because integrating CPUs, memory, input-output devices, and silicon chips into a single package is extremely difficult. He said the industry is moving toward system solutions and packaging technology, and that relying on one company for 95% of capacity is very risky. Tan also said Intel's 14A process had faced yield issues, but the company agreed in April to provide 14A process technology to the Terafab project led by Tesla and SpaceX. The first Terafab product is expected in mid-2028. In June, Intel hired former SK Hynix CEO Lee Seok-hee as a senior vice president to oversee advanced packaging, back-end technology development, and manufacturing in its foundry division. Tan also expressed confidence in Intel's EMIB advanced packaging technology and said CPU demand remains extremely strong, with Intel able to meet only 50% of customer demand.