Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan Says He Discussed Potential Cooperation With AMD's Lisa Su

Intel (INTC) CEO Lip-Bu Tan said he has discussed potential areas of collaboration with AMD (AMD) CEO Lisa Su, raising the prospect of closer ties between the two chipmaking rivals. Tan did not specify the direction of the talks, and no new agreement has been announced. Tan disclosed the conversations during an October 24 fireside chat with Jimmy Cheng, president of the Chinese American Semiconductor Professional Association, according to a Tom's Hardware report. The two companies already collaborate within the x86 ecosystem and on AI software, leaving room to expand. In October 2024, Intel and AMD joined other tech firms to form an x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group to coordinate improvements to the instruction set architecture. Last week, AMD began integrating ZenDNN optimizations into Intel's open-source oneDNN library, giving both companies a common software path for CPU-optimized PyTorch AI inference. Tan also outlined his turnaround strategy, saying Intel must reclaim leadership with CPUs at its core and offer more customized chips for specific workloads. He named custom ASICs, co-packaged optics, physical AI and advanced packaging as potential growth businesses, targeting two or three of them to each contribute about 10% of revenue. On manufacturing, Tan said the 18A process is in volume production and the next-generation 14A node is progressing strongly, with the 0.5 version of its design kit released, a 0.9 version upcoming and a production-ready 1.0 version scheduled for early 2027. He said multiple customers want Intel's help scaling their businesses but did not identify them or disclose potential order sizes. Analysts said the x86 and AI software collaboration reflects a pragmatic approach to shared technical standards, though details of any broader cooperation remain undisclosed.