AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su has made her first public statement on the possibility of a manufacturing collaboration with Intel. Speaking with Bloomberg, Dr. Su took a measured but open stance, emphasizing AMD’s strong foundation in its partnership with TSMC while also expressing commitment to expanding U.S.-based manufacturing capacity.
“We hope to build as much as possible in the U.S.,” she noted — a comment that, while cautious, has been widely interpreted as leaving the door open for potential cooperation with Intel.
This follows growing industry speculation that AMD might consider outsourcing a portion of chip production to Intel, as part of a dual-source manufacturing strategy aimed at mitigating risks associated with dependence on a single foundry.
Dual-Source Manufacturing: Strategic Logic Behind the Speculation #
Reports suggest that AMD is actively evaluating options to diversify its manufacturing sources, driven by three key factors:
- Capacity constraints at TSMC, which remains heavily booked by Apple, NVIDIA, and other major clients.
- Intense competition for access to advanced process nodes such as 3nm and 2nm.
- U.S. policy incentives that encourage domestic semiconductor manufacturing.
Intel’s 18A process, scheduled for volume readiness by 2025, is particularly attractive. The company claims up to 36% lower power consumption at the same frequency, 25% higher performance, and over 30% higher transistor density compared to its current nodes — positioning it as a legitimate rival to TSMC’s most advanced technologies.
If AMD were to adopt Intel’s foundry services, it could help reduce supply risk, align with U.S. reshoring initiatives, and potentially strengthen AMD’s standing in future government-backed AI and HPC projects.
Balancing Competition and Cooperation #
The potential partnership, however, would present an intricate challenge. AMD and Intel are longtime rivals across critical markets — from consumer CPUs and data center processors to GPUs and AI accelerators.
Historically, AMD’s evolution from reliance on GlobalFoundries to deep collaboration with TSMC has been central to its turnaround and success under Dr. Su’s leadership. Entrusting part of its chip fabrication to a direct competitor could raise confidentiality, strategic, and competitive concerns.
Industry analysts believe that if cooperation were to occur, it would likely involve non-core or specialized products, such as AI accelerator chips or custom silicon, rather than flagship Ryzen CPUs or EPYC server processors. This would allow AMD to leverage Intel’s manufacturing capabilities without compromising its key technology roadmap.
Geopolitics and Policy Pressure #
The discussion around a potential AMD–Intel collaboration is unfolding amid shifting U.S. political and industrial policy landscapes. With Washington renewing its focus on semiconductor self-sufficiency, both companies face mounting incentives to expand domestic production.
Intel has already attracted new investments from SoftBank, NVIDIA, and other global players, while AMD continues to emphasize its U.S.-based R&D and packaging facilities. Against this backdrop, even limited cooperation between the two rivals could be interpreted as a policy-aligned strategic adjustment — not an alliance, but a pragmatic response to government and market pressures.
TSMC Remains at the Core #
Despite rumors, AMD maintains a tight strategic partnership with TSMC, which fabricates its Zen 5 and Zen 6 CPU architectures, along with RDNA 4 and CDNA 4 GPU families. TSMC’s advanced 5nm, 4nm, and upcoming 3nm and 2nm nodes remain essential to AMD’s product performance and schedule reliability.
Dr. Su reaffirmed that TSMC’s technology leadership continues to underpin AMD’s roadmap, underscoring that the foundry remains its primary manufacturing partner for the foreseeable future.
Ambiguous Optimism: A Strategic Posture #
Dr. Su’s remarks were deliberately ambiguous but forward-looking — acknowledging the complexities of modern supply chains while signaling flexibility in long-term planning. Her focus on supply chain security and domestic manufacturing reflects both technological pragmatism and strategic alignment with U.S. industrial policy.
In the near term, AMD is expected to remain deeply tied to TSMC. But over the next decade, as semiconductor production becomes more distributed across regions and foundries, AMD may pursue redundant, multi-node manufacturing networks — balancing competition and collaboration to secure its position in the evolving global chip ecosystem.