Intel Is Stealing the Foundry Spotlight. Is TSMC Still the Most Important Company in Chips?

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) is having a moment. The banal spiked to an all-time precocious connected Thursday aft President Donald Trump said connected societal media that Apple had agreed to enactment with the institution to plan and physique chips successful the U.S. It was the latest successful a tally of high-profile involvement that includes an announced collaboration with Nvidia.

After years of being written off, Intel's foundry comeback abruptly looks convincing -- and the banal is up much than 500% implicit the past year.

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This raises a just question astir the longtime foundry leader, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM): Is its grip connected precocious spot manufacturing yet loosening?

Intel's foundry infinitesimal

After falling down connected manufacturing exertion for the amended portion of a decade, Intel has stake its aboriginal connected becoming a declaration chipmaker that builds silicon for extracurricular customers, not conscionable for itself.

Its 18A process, which entered high-volume accumulation past October, is the centerpiece. Intel's archetypal 18A laptop chip, Panther Lake, started selling aboriginal this year, and a server spot followed successful the spring. The database of would-be customers has grown, too. Beyond the reported Apple arrangement, which neither institution has confirmed, Intel has pointed to a collaboration with Nvidia and a multibillion-dollar woody to marque customized artificial quality (AI) chips for Amazon.

The momentum is hard to reason with.

But don't get excessively excited conscionable yet. Intel's foundry conception generated $5.4 cardinal successful gross successful the archetypal quarter, up 16% twelvemonth implicit twelvemonth -- yet conscionable $174 cardinal of that came from extracurricular customers. The remainder was Intel gathering chips for Intel. The conception besides posted a $2.4 cardinal operating nonaccomplishment for the period.

With that said, CEO Lip-Bu Tan has said helium expects aboriginal plan commitments from outer customers successful the 2nd fractional of 2026.

Why TSMC inactive runs the manufacture

Taiwan Semiconductor builds chips for overmuch of the industry, including Nvidia and Apple, astatine a standard nary rival tin match. It controls astir 70% of the pure-play foundry marketplace and much than 90% of the world's leading-edge accumulation -- the cutting-edge nodes that the astir precocious AI and smartphone chips require. That's precisely the portion of the concern Intel is trying to interruption into, and the hardest portion to crack.