TSMC flags Intel competition
TSMC told investors it now views Intel Foundry as a 'formidable competitor', signalling a more contested foundry landscape. DigiTimes separately reported Intel hired Samsung executive Shawn Han to strengthen foundry operations and customer engagement. (tomshardware.com) (digitimes.com)
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. told investors on April 16 that it now sees Intel Foundry as a “formidable competitor,” a sharper public warning from the market leader. (investor.tsmc.com) The comment came on TSMC’s first-quarter 2026 earnings call, where Chairman and Chief Executive C.C. Wei said TSMC would “not underestimate” Intel even as he argued “the fundamental rule of the foundry game never change.” (investor.tsmc.com) A foundry is a chip factory that builds processors designed by other companies. TSMC dominates that business, but Intel has been trying to turn its own manufacturing arm into a contract supplier for outside customers. (intel.com) (investor.tsmc.com) Intel reinforced that push on April 16 by hiring Shawn Han from Samsung Electronics to become general manager of foundry services. Bloomberg reported Han will join next month and report to foundry chief Naga Chandrasekaran, with a mandate centered on winning customers. (bloomberg.com) The timing matters because both companies are pitching their next manufacturing steps to the same artificial-intelligence and data-center customers. TSMC used its April 16 results to guide second-quarter revenue to $39.0 billion to $40.2 billion after posting $35.9 billion in first-quarter revenue and a 66.2% gross margin. (investor.tsmc.com) TSMC has also been showing customers its A14 process, announced in April 2025, as the successor to N2. The company said A14 is planned for production in 2028 and is designed to improve speed, power use, and logic density for artificial-intelligence chips. (pr.tsmc.com) (tsmc.com) Intel, meanwhile, has been promoting its 18A process as the core of its comeback. Intel said in September 2025 that Panther Lake would be its first client processor built on 18A, and in April 2025 it said it had engaged lead customers on the follow-on 14A node while adding an 18A-P variant for more foundry users. (intc.com 1) (intc.com 2) TSMC still holds the stronger position in scale and profitability, but its language shifted from dismissing rivals to acknowledging Intel as a real threat. Intel’s hiring of a Samsung sales and foundry veteran shows the contest is no longer only about transistor technology; it is also about persuading big chip designers to trust a new supplier. (investor.tsmc.com) (bloomberg.com)
