Intel at Deutsche Bank's 2025 Technology Conference

[hist78]

• Summary:
• 
  
• ~ Government Grants: Intel received $5.7 billion from the U.S. government, under the CHIPS Act, now being converted into a stake in the company. The $5.7B grant was received the night before the conference, bolstering Intel’s balance sheet and reducing the need for external capital in the near term. The U.S. government’s equity stake is seen as a positive endorsement that could help attract foundry customers, though execution—quality, capacity, and customer satisfaction—will ultimately determine success.
• 
  
• ~ SoftBank Investment: SoftBank has also injected $2 billion into Intel.
• 
  
• ~ Debt Reduction Plans: Intel aims to reduce debt by $3.8 billion this year, with additional deleveraging planned into the next year.
• 
  
• ~ CapEx and Margins: Maintaining CapEx at around $18 billion annually, with gross margins near 40%, and a goal to improve.
• 
  
• ~ Foundry Business: Intel is pushing its foundry segment, targeting volume production of its 18A process by 2028–2029, though securing external customer commitments remains a challenge.
• 
  
• ~ Product Roadmap: Upcoming launches include Panther Lake, Nova Lake, Lunar Lake, Diamond Rapids, and Coral Rapids. Adjustments are underway in the data center segment to address multi-threading gaps.

Audio Replay:

Intel - 1730744

 

[hist78]

Here is the Google NotebookLM AI generated audio overview:

Audio overview: https://notebooklm.google.com/noteb...tifactId=c510e4e2-1ae8-4880-8caa-8ec8babcf069

 

[Brady]

Here is the Google NotebookLM AI generated audio overview:

Audio overview: https://notebooklm.google.com/noteb...tifactId=c510e4e2-1ae8-4880-8caa-8ec8babcf069

Neat tool. Some insights about Foundry that seemed interesting to me:

The upcoming 0.5 PDK (Process Design Kit) for 14A will be a key milestone for customers to evaluate the technology.

Intel is targeting high-performance compute (HPC) customers due to the advantages of its backside power solution, but also sees opportunities in the handset/mobile segment.

CEO Lipbu will only declare a customer win for 14A when there's a "real commitment and signature". Intel expects next year (2026) to be a key period for evaluating customer wins, with potential wins also in 2027. The industry generally anticipates volume ramp for leading-edge customers at the 14A node in the late 2020s (2028-2030).

Technology Progress (18A and 14A):

18A has shown significant improvement, now being in a "good really good place on the performance" with "steady incremental improvement on yields," despite earlier elongation in yield stabilization

14A was designed "from the ground up" as a foundry node, resulting in a significantly different maturity of PDKs and greater rigor in its ecosystem compared to 18A at a similar stage. It is "already out of the gate looking better".
◦ Learnings from 18A are being applied to 14A to enhance defect density and performance.
◦ Both 18A and 14A are noted for their "very good cost structures" relative to older nodes and better pricing.

 

[Brady]

And on Product:

Challenges: There's more work needed to achieve strong performance across the entire data center spectrum and meet customer expectations. CEO Lipbu has "torn apart that strategy" and identified "pockets" or "gaps" in the roadmap, particularly around multi-threading, which are being addressed.
◦ Roadmap Adjustment: Adjustments are being made to deliver products that customers want and need, but this will be a multi-year process. Incremental improvements are expected over the next couple of years.
◦ Upcoming Products:
▪ Diamond Rapids is expected to be better than Granite Rapids but "doesn't get us quite there" in closing the performance gap, performing better in some cases but not others.
▪ Coral Rapids (which Lipbu reportedly named in some forum) is seen as the "real opportunity" to take a significant step forward in performance.
• Product Architecture and Foundry Use:
◦ Tile Architectures: Intel's architecture is increasingly moving towards tile structures, which provides flexibility for products to "pick and choose" where their silicon is produced. This means that while Intel Foundry will likely provide the "majority of our wafers" for products, Intel will "continue to be a significant purchaser of external wafers" for solutions that require them to achieve the best combination of price and performance.
◦ Foundry Support: Generally, Intel's data center products are done internally to help support the Intel Foundry business.
◦ Panther Lake: This product will utilize the 18A process from Intel Foundry.
• AI and GPU Mentions:
◦ The source mentions that SoftBank, a recent investor in Intel, is "very much invested in AI," and Intel is looking for opportunities to "intersect with that" by providing solutions useful for them or in concert with them.
◦ In the data center, Intel performs well in "the head node which is a CPU that runs alongside the GPU". This indicates Intel's CPU products are designed to complement GPUs, which are critical for AI workloads.
◦ Beyond these points, the source does not detail specific AI-focused products or discrete GPU product updates from Intel.Intel's Chief Financial Officer, Dave Zinsner, provided updates on various Intel product segments, though specific details regarding AI and GPUs were more general, particularly concerning the data center.

So, Diamond Rapids still not catching up (to AMD), and we have to wait for Coral Rapids to tackle the performance deficit? Ouch.

Also, literally no update on GPU or any * Shores product… woof.

 

[siliconbruh999]

So, Diamond Rapids still not catching up (to AMD), and we have to wait for Coral Rapids to tackle the performance deficit? Ouch.

This is mainly due to them cutting one feature Hyper Threading Hyperscalers love It but it also has security issues they are in parity in terms of Core counts though both have 256C CPUs.