[News] Intel Foundry Said to Boost Equipment Orders by 50%+ YoY; 14A May Draw Major Customers by Year-End

Intel’s foundry business may be gaining momentum. According to Anue, sources say Intel has been actively ramping up chipmaking equipment orders since the start of 2026, with volumes rising by more than 50% compared with last year. Companies in its supply chain, including KINIK Company and E&R Engineering, are also expected to benefit.

As noted by Economic Daily News, among Taiwanese firms, E&R Engineering is one of the few equipment suppliers spanning both front-end wafer fabrication and back-end advanced packaging. It maintains a close partnership with Intel, with its Raman inspection, laser processing, and plasma-related tools already deployed in customer production lines and continuing to expand in application scope.

As orders from major customers continue to come in, E&R Engineering’s order volumes are expected to ramp up from the second quarter, with shipment momentum strengthening in the second half, driven by customer capacity expansions.

Beyond E&R Engineering, Anue notes that KINIK Company’s diamond discs have been adopted by Intel since the second half of last year, with shipments covering multiple sites, including Oregon and Arizona in the U.S., as well as Israel and Ireland. As its share within Intel continues to increase, related shipments are expected to grow significantly this year, further lifting overall diamond disc volumes.

Intel Foundry Turnaround May Gain Ground with 14A and EMIB

Amid Team Blue’s foundry turnaround, Wccftech, citing analysts, notes that Intel’s foundry business may be in a position to attract major customers by the end of 2026 as its 14A technology gains traction. The report suggests that companies such as Google, Apple, AMD, and NVIDIA could consider committing this fall once PDK 1.0 becomes available to customers. Intel has already released an earlier version, PDK 0.5, the report adds.

In addition, Wccftech notes that Intel has partnered with Musk on the Terafab project, which is slated for test production by 2029. The report adds that one potential scenario could see Intel combining its Ohio wafer fab with Terafab, a move that may further strengthen its foundry reputation.

At present, Intel is seeking to attract customers not only with its 14A node but also with other key offerings. EMIB, its advanced packaging technology that competes with TSMC’s 2.5D solutions, could serve as another lever to help turn around its foundry business, as noted by Wccftech.

Intel Regains Momentum as AI Shift Brings CPUs Back to Center Stage

Intel’s momentum is reflected in its move to repurchase shares in its Ireland joint venture from Apollo Global Management, regaining control of Fab 34, Anue notes. The report adds that this step signals a renewed focus on process technology and mass production capabilities, and points to an expansion of its Intel 3 and Intel 4 nodes.

Behind this momentum, Anue also notes that as AI shifts from training to inference and agentic AI, the traditional GPU-centric model is expected to give way to heterogeneous systems that rely more on CPUs, making them central to system design once again. This shift is bringing former CPU leader Intel back into the spotlight and drawing renewed market attention.

Read more

• [News] Intel Joins Tesla TeraFab, May Provide Design and Manufacturing Strength, Signaling Foundry Momentum
• [News] Intel Advanced Packaging Reportedly Gains Traction vs. TSMC as Google, Amazon Weigh EMIB Adoption

(Photo credit: Intel)