Intel’s woes have continued this week, after its CEO met with US president Donald Trump.
Trump previously called for the resignation of its CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, following on from a letter sent by Arkansas senator Tom Cotton to Intel’s board of directors chairman, Frank Yeary.
In the letter, Cotton expressed concern over Tan’s investments and ties to semiconductor firms that are reportedly linked to the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army.
This led to a Trump post on Truth Social stating: “The CEO of Intel is highly conflicted and must resign immediately. There is no other solution to this problem.”
But on August 11, the US administration had what Intel described as “a candid and constructive discussion” on the company’s commitment to strengthening US technology and manufacturing leadership.
“We appreciate the President’s strong leadership to advance these critical priorities and look forward to working closely with him and his administration as we restore this great American company,” Intel said after the meeting.
However, although Intel has publicly said its board of directors, and CEO Tan, are “deeply committed to advancing US national and economic security interests and are aligned with the Trump’s America First agenda”, former Intel chief Craig Barrett believes Tan’s business strategy will not lift Intel’s business outlook.
Foundry loss
In February 2024, the company unveiled its foundry business, which produces semiconductors for external customers such as Microsoft. At the time, Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella said Microsoft had chosen a chip design it planned to produce on the Intel 18A (1.8nm) process.
“We are in the midst of a very exciting platform shift that will fundamentally transform productivity for every individual organization and the entire industry,” he said. “To achieve this vision, we need a reliable supply of the most advanced, high-performance and high-quality semiconductors. That’s why we are so excited to work with Intel Foundry, and why we have chosen a chip design that we plan to produce on Intel 18A process.”
During the company’s second quarter of 2025 earnings call, Tan announced the company would no longer be developing manufacturing in Germany and Poland, and would “slow the pace of construction” in Ohio. “We will grow our capacity based solely on the volume commitments and deploy CapEx in lockstep with the tangible milestones and not before,” he said.
In a letter sent to Intel employees, Tan said the company would reduce the workforce by 15% to 75,000 people.
With regards to the Intel foundry business, he wrote: “Going forward, our investment in Intel 14A will be based on confirmed customer commitments. There are no more blank cheques. Every investment must make economic sense. We will build what our customers need, when they need it, and earn their trust through consistent execution.”
Although the chipmaker has invested billions of dollars in domestic US semiconductor research, and development and manufacturing, including a new manufacturing facility in Arizona, Barrett questioned Intel’s investment decisions. In an article he wrote for Fortune, Barrett called Tan’s strategy of not investing in new technology – such as the next iterations of its semiconductor manufacturing, the Intel 14A (1.4 nm) process – until customer sign-up “a joke”.
Fund Intel
Barrett called on Intel’s customers such as Nvidia, Apple and Google, which mainly use TSMC to manufacture their semiconductors, to consider the importance of establishing a second source. He went on to suggest that Intel’s eight main customers should each cough up $5bn to fund the development and deployment of advanced manufacturing processes to support the chipmaker.
The new chip manufacturing process has caught the attention of some industry watchers who believe it may provide a way for Intel to win business from TSMC, such as in the manufacturing of the next generation of Apple M silicon and some Nvidia graphics processing units.
The company’s roadmap shows that Intel 14A will be available in the first half of 2026, and industry reports suggest that semiconductors made on the 14A process should start shipping in 2027.
