Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan Says He Has Talked With AMD's Lisa Su About Working Together

Intel chief executive Lip-Bu Tan has held talks with AMD chief executive Lisa Su about possible co-operation between the two chipmakers, according to TechRadar. Neither executive has said what the companies might develop together, leaving the scope open.

Tan raised the discussions during a conversation with Jimmy Cheng, president of the Chinese American Semiconductor Professional Association. The two firms are rivals in the processor market, which makes any joint work notable.

The pair already have a track record of working together in narrower areas. In October 2024, Intel and AMD set up the x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group with other technology companies to coordinate changes to the processor architecture both of them use. That effort focuses on compatibility, so developers can support hardware from either vendor while the two firms keep competing for buyers.

Co-operation has reached AI software as well. AMD has added its ZenDNN optimizations to Intel's open-source oneDNN library, which is used for CPU-based PyTorch inference. The companies have also collaborated on Advanced Matrix Extensions and other capabilities of the x86 platform.

Tan used the discussion to outline how he intends to rebuild Intel's processor business. He said the company must take back the lead in CPUs and described a move toward tailoring chips to individual customers instead of depending only on its existing designs.

Customized processors form one part of his plan, alongside new semiconductor technologies and manufacturing work for outside clients. He also listed several other areas he is backing, including co-packaged optics, advanced packaging, physical AI and chips built for specific applications. He expects two or three of those businesses to each bring in roughly 10% of Intel's revenue.

Intel's foundry arm is another possible route for co-operation, though nothing has been announced about AMD making chips there. Tan said the 18A process is now in volume production and that work on 14A continues. Intel has shipped version 0.5 of the 14A design kit, with 0.9 due before the 1.0 release that is scheduled to reach volume manufacturing in the first quarter of 2027. Two prospective customers were assessing 14A test chips in January, and supplier decisions are expected between the second half of 2026 and the first half of 2027.

Tan said multiple customers want to grow through Intel's manufacturing services but did not name them or give order sizes. He also recounted a customer that waited six to eight months for him to take the top job, then listed 15 areas where Intel had fallen short. Intel says it fixed all of them, after which the customer widened its relationship with the company.