Manufacturing · Profile from Manufacturing Research Companion: Companies, Strategic Moves, and Technical Studies
Intel Foundry
The manufacturing half of Intel — the fabs in Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, Ireland and Israel, the unbuilt Ohio site and the process roadmap from Intel 7 to 18A and 14A — told here as a factory story. The company and AI angle (missing mobile, the AI-accelerator misses, Gelsinger's exit, Nvidia's investment, the reported Apple deal and the 2026 equity raise) is in AI: Intel; this profile keeps every shared figure equal to it. Intel Foundry's story turns on process capability lost, then rebuilt at enormous fixed cost — and utilisation that needs outside customers. For three decades Intel's fabs were the best in the world and its "Copy Exactly!" method let it run a new process identically in several fabs at once. Then 10 nm slipped for years (2015–19) and TSMC took the lead. From March 2021 Intel committed to IDM 2.0 — five nodes in four years, a foundry for others and fabs in Arizona, Ohio, Germany and Poland — and spent ~$25bn a year on capex while revenue fell. By 2026 18A was in volume at Fab 52 in Arizona, the Germany and Poland projects had been cancelled (Jul 2025), Ohio's first fab had moved to 2030–31, the CHIPS award had been converted into a ~9.9% government stake (22 Aug 2025), and Intel Foundry still lost $1,853m in Q3 2026 on $6,697m of revenue, most of it from Intel's own products (Shared facts).
At a glance
- Founded
- Intel founded 18 Jul 1968 (equal to AI); "Intel Foundry Services" announced 23 Mar 2021 with IDM 2.0; Intel Foundry reported as a separate segment from 2024 and made a subsidiary (announced Sep 2024) (equal to AI)
- Headquarters
- Santa Clara, California (Intel); main fab campuses in Hillsboro, Oregon (process development), Chandler, Arizona (Ocotillo), Rio Rancho, New Mexico (packaging), Leixlip, Ireland, and Kiryat Gat, Israel (company, verify list); Ohio One in New Albany, Ohio, under construction
- Ownership / structure
- A segment and subsidiary of Intel Corporation (Nasdaq: INTC). The US government holds ~9.9% of Intel (433.3m shares at $20.47 ≈ $8.9bn, 22 Aug 2025) plus a five-year warrant for 5% more at $20, exercisable only if Intel ceases to own at least 51% of the foundry (equal to AI); Nvidia ~4% (~$5bn at $23.28, closed 26 Dec 2025); SoftBank $2bn at $23 (Aug 2025). Brookfield owns 49% of the Arizona expansion (Fabs 52 and 62, from memory, verify) and Apollo 49% of the Irish Fab 34 joint venture (equal to AI)
- Leadership (2026)
- Lip-Bu Tan, Intel CEO since 18 Mar 2025; Naga Chandrasekaran, Intel Foundry chief technology and operations officer (title verify, equal to AI); David Zinsner, CFO
- Process roadmap
- Intel 7, Intel 4, Intel 3 (shipping); 20A cancelled (Sep 2024); 18A (RibbonFET gate-all-around transistors, PowerVia backside power) in volume at Fab 52; 18A-P in risk production; 14A (first node designed around High-NA EUV) — 0.9 PDK released Oct 2026, internal risk production 2H 2027 (Shared facts; equal to AI)
- Scale
- Q3 2026 (29 Oct 2026): Intel Foundry revenue $6,697m (+58% from $4,235m), operating loss $1,853m (vs $2,321m) (Shared facts). Full-year operating losses ~$13.4bn (2024) and ~$10.3bn (2025) (equal to AI, reported). Intel capex ~$25bn a year in 2022–24 (equal to AI, verify) and ~$20bn planned for 2026 (reported, verify)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- "Copy Exactly!" fab replication (1990s); 10 nm and the loss of process leadership (2015–20); IDM 2.0 and Intel Foundry Services (2021); Brookfield and Apollo fab co-investment (2022–24); Ohio One groundbreaking and the delay to 2030–31 (2022–25); Intel Foundry as a subsidiary and 20A cancelled (2024); the CHIPS award and its conversion into the government stake (2024–25); Magdeburg and Wrocław cancelled (2025); 18A and Panther Lake at Fab 52 and the foundry losses (2025–26)
9 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1990
Copy Exactly Fab Replication
Production-system change (process transfer method)
2015
10nm and the Loss of Process Leadership
Technology bet (process node) — failure
2021
IDM 2 0 and Intel Foundry Services
Strategy pivot; new plants (greenfield and expansion); foundry launch
2022
Brookfield and Apollo Fab Co Investment
Financing; joint venture (minority stakes in fab projects sold to infrastructure and private-credit investors)
2022
Ohio One Groundbreaking and the Delay to 2030
New plant (greenfield) — delayed
2024
CHIPS Award and the Government Stake
Government award, then government equity stake
2024
Intel Foundry Subsidiary and 20A Cancelled
Restructuring (separation of the foundry into a subsidiary); technology change (node cancelled); footprint pause
2025
18A Panther Lake at Fab 52
Product and process launch (new node in volume); new plant (Fab 52) and expansion (Fab 62)
2025
Magdeburg and Wroclaw Cancelled
Footprint consolidation; cancellation of greenfield plants (failure of a plan)