Intel signs Microsoft as foundry customer, says on track to overtake TSMC

investing.com:

By Stephen Nellis and Max A. Cherney

(Reuters) -Intel said on Wednesday that Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) plans to use its services to manufacture a custom computing chip and that the company expects to beat an internal deadline of 2025 to overtake its biggest rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, in advanced chip manufacturing.

The chipmaker also gave new details on how it plans to maintain a lead over TSMC into 2026 and beyond.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) made the disclosures at an event in San Jose, California, at the first technology conference for Intel Foundry, the contract manufacturing operation it established to compete with TSMC.

Intel says it plans to retake the mantle of making the world's fastest chips from TSMC later this year with what it calls Intel 18A manufacturing technology and extend that lead into 2026 with new technology called Intel 14A.

It said Microsoft will use its 18A technology to make an undisclosed chip and that it now expects $15 billion of foundry orders, up from the $10 billion that the company had earlier told investors to expect.

The news of 14A technology is the first time that the Silicon Valley company has given details of its plans beyond the 2025. That is the deadline that Intel's CEO, Pat Gelsinger, had set to regain the chipmaking crown when he took the reins three years ago.

For decades, Intel made chips only for itself and used its lead in manufacturing to create a cycle in which it made chips with industry-leading performance and charged a premium for them. Those margins, in turn, helped fund manufacturing advances. But when Intel lost its manufacturing lead, its chips became less competitive and margins slipped, sapping the source funding for a manufacturing rebound.

Now, Intel