Intel Chip Foundry’s “New Milestone”: Official Announcement That “18A Upgraded” Process Has Entered the “Risk Production” Stage

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Intel's chip foundry reaches a "new milestone."

According to MarketWatch, on June 16 local time, Intel announced that its upgraded version of the 18A process node—18A-P—has officially entered the "risk production" stage.

"Risk production" simply means the process technology is mature enough to start initial mass production, but not yet ready for large-scale commercial delivery. This stage typically lasts six months to a year, during which Intel will test the actual performance of the 18A-P on different chip cores to prepare for subsequent full-scale production.

Dan Hutcheson, Vice Chairman of market analysis agency TechInsights, said: "Their willingness to enter risk production means they are already prepared to take on external customers."

Where is 18A-P stronger than 18A?

18A-P is an upgraded version within the 18A process family. According to Intel, compared with 18A, 18A-P offers better performance in handling high-intensity AI computing tasks, with improved power efficiency as well.

More importantly, 18A-P is fully compatible in design with 18A. This means customers do not need to redesign chips from scratch and can continue development directly on 18A-P—greatly reducing customers' switching costs.

It is worth noting that Intel initially did not plan for customers to use 18A-P. But according to Ben Bajarin, CEO of Creative Strategies, the large-scale construction of AI infrastructure has driven strong demand for computing power and chip manufacturing, directly fueling market interest in 18A-P. At the same time, Intel has leveraged this variant to improve chip yield and enhance the Process Design Kit (PDK).

Bajarin calls this "a major leap," and says Intel "is now in a position to capture customers and bring them into Intel's foundry."

Foundry business: A $2.4 billion quarterly 'bleed point'

The reason why this progress draws so much attention lies in the financial pressure on Intel's foundry business.

Bajarin bluntly states that Intel’s foundry division "has always been a loss-making business." Data backs this up: in the first quarter this year, the division's operating loss reached $2.4 billion.

Wall Street’s bet on Intel’s financial turnaround is mainly focused on whether its next-generation 14A process node can attract external customers. But the progress of 18A-P offers another path—if customers can be secured, Bajarin believes this will offer substantial upside for Intel's revenue and profit margins.

Dan Hutcheson also pointed out, given that chip makers must now respond to customer demand extremely quickly, progress on 18A-P is a "key milestone for Intel's recovery." He added that Intel also leads in the field of EMIB (Embedded Multi-die Interconnect Bridge) chip packaging technology.

Internal validation completed, external customers are the next hurdle

Before announcing 18A-P entering risk production, Intel already had some internal validation foundation.

According to Bajarin, earlier this year, Intel launched the first consumer and commercial PC chips manufactured on the 18A node, which have already completed preliminary verification of process technology and packaging capability. Dan Hutcheson also noted that Intel has built internal products based on 18A-P technology.

But internal validation and landing external customers are two different things. The core task of the "risk production" phase is to prove, through actual testing across various chip cores, that this process is equally reliable for external customers. This six to twelve month window will determine whether 18A-P can truly become a new growth point for Intel’s foundry business.

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