--- title: "Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan discussed collaboration with AMD; outside customers are 5.1% of Intel's foundry revenue" description: "Lip-Bu Tan put a possible AMD collaboration on the record on October 24, but Intel's own 10-Q shows outside customers are 5.1% of foundry revenue and most of the growth is accounting, while TSMC's A14 just restored cache scaling that Intel cannot yet match." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Chips" published: 2026-10-27T15:21:00.025Z modified: 2026-10-27T15:21:00.025Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/intel-ceo-lip-bu-tan-discussed-collaboration-with-amd-outside-customers-are-5-1-of-intel-s-foundry-revenue language: en keywords: "Intel, AMD, TSMC, Foundry, Chips" --- # Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan discussed collaboration with AMD; outside customers are 5.1% of Intel's foundry revenue > Lip-Bu Tan put a possible AMD collaboration on the record on October 24, but Intel's own 10-Q shows outside customers are 5.1% of foundry revenue and most of the growth is accounting, while TSMC's A14 just restored cache scaling that Intel cannot yet match. [Intel](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/intel)'s turnaround story got a headline this week and a receipt problem. On October 24, 2026, at the CASPA CEO Summit in California, Intel chief executive Lip-Bu Tan said he had discussed possible areas of collaboration with [AMD](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/amd) chief executive [Lisa Su](https://theinference.org/markets/people/lisa-su) [1]. [Tom's Hardware reported the remarks on October 26](https://xenospectrum.com/en/intel-amd-collaboration-foundry-revenue/), and no area of cooperation, contract term or dollar amount was disclosed [1]. Two days later, a Korean report gave the industry's real scoreboard. The two facts together frame what Intel's Q3 print, due October 29, has to answer [1][3]. ## The 10-Q receipt: 5.1% outside customers The hard numbers sit in Intel's second-quarter Form 10-Q, filed in July, and they are humbler than the AMD talk [1]. Intel Foundry took in $5.765 billion of segment revenue in the quarter ended June 27, 2026, of which only $293 million, about 5.1%, came from outside customers [1]. External revenue rose $271 million year over year, but Intel's own filing attributes the rise mainly to deconsolidating Altera in the third quarter of 2025: sales that used to be internal now count as external [1]. Headline growth, mostly accounting [1]. Design services revenue roughly tripled year on year, and Intel says EMIB-T packaging backlog is growing with 2027 customer ramps planned, but the design-services base is undisclosed, so the tripling has no size [1]. ## TSMC's A14 brings back cache scaling Meanwhile the competitor moved. [ETNews reports](https://overclock3d.net/news/misc/tsmc-to-bring-back-sram-scaling-with-its-a14-node/) [TSMC](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/tsmc)'s A14 node will shrink SRAM cache cells below 0.017 square microns, against roughly 0.021 on 5nm, 3nm and 2nm, where cache scaling has stalled for years, and that Intel and Samsung are unlikely to match it on their 14-angstrom nodes [2]. A14 targets 10-15% more speed or 25-30% less power than N2 [2]. Cache is a costly share of an AI chip, and customers shop on density. ## Watch committed demand, not the stage talk Intel 14A plans risk production in late 2027 and volume in 2028, and Intel is pacing 14A capacity to committed demand [1]. That committed-demand line in [the Q3 10-Q, out on October 29](https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/10/25/intels-make-or-break-margin-test-is-arriving-on-oct-29/), is the number that decides the AMD story [3]. ## Takeaway Intel's AMD collaboration talk is stage talk: the 10-Q shows outside customers are 5.1% of foundry revenue, most external growth is the Altera deconsolidation, and TSMC's A14 just restored the cache scaling Intel's 14A cannot yet match. The committed-demand line in the October 29 10-Q decides the story. ## Sources 1. [XenoSpectrum, Intel CEO Says He Discussed Collaboration With AMD, but No Foundry Deal Has Been Disclosed, 27 October 2026](https://xenospectrum.com/en/intel-amd-collaboration-foundry-revenue/) 2. [Overclock3D (via ETNews), TSMC to bring back SRAM scaling with its A14 node, 27 October 2026](https://overclock3d.net/news/misc/tsmc-to-bring-back-sram-scaling-with-its-a14-node/) 3. [24/7 Wall St., Intel's Make-or-Break Margin Test Is Arriving on Oct. 29, 25 October 2026](https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/10/25/intels-make-or-break-margin-test-is-arriving-on-oct-29/) --- Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan discussed collaboration with AMD; outside customers are 5.1% of Intel's foundry revenue — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/intel-ceo-lip-bu-tan-discussed-collaboration-with-amd-outside-customers-are-5-1-of-intel-s-foundry-revenue