Intel’s July 2025 overhaul isn’t a reorg. It’s a full-blown purge. Lip-Bu Tan took the helm in March and immediately cut 10,705 jobs. That includes 2,392 in Oregon, 696 in Chandler, 110 in Austin, and 107 in Santa Clara. The Munich auto chip unit is gone. Foundry headcount dropped 20%. Marketing’s outsourced. Tan told staff, “We are not in the top 10 semiconductor companies.” Intel’s market cap is $98.97B. Nvidia just crossed $4.1T.
The sticker still sells. Intel’s laptop CPU share on Amazon was 63% in Q1 2025. In mid-range pricing, they hold 70%+. Apple dominates premium, but Intel still owns 17.2%. Walk through any Costco or Best Buy. Intel’s everywhere. The consumer footprint hasn’t cracked.
The bullish case starts with 14A. Intel’s 18A node failed to land external customers. Tan is fast-tracking 14A. Risk production is locked for Q1 2027. Clearwater Forest servers will run Foveros Direct stacking with sub-5 micron pitch, tight enough for SRAM layers and vertical packaging. The 14A-E variant targets low-power mobile nodes. Packaging tech’s real. If they land one big outside client, foundry breaks even by 2029.
Inferencing is the other lever. AI training’s done. Nvidia owns it. Tan admitted it. But inferencing’s still open. Intel’s Arc Pro B60 launched in May with 24GB VRAM, and the B50 dropped with 16GB. Gaudi 3 now runs inside IBM Cloud’s PCIe racks, with full rack-scale deployments on the roadmap. Core Ultra 200 processors are tuned for edge inferencing. Device-level performance over datacenter sprawl. That’s the pivot.
Bear flags? Foundry losses were $13.1B in FY 2024. 18A production status remains at risk. No external traction. Layoffs hit hard. Morale’s bleeding.
But if 14A wins a big contract and inferencing scales across retail and enterprise, INTC rerates. The sticker stays sticky. The channel moves volume. Tan’s blueprint isn’t chasing hype. It’s cutting bloat and lining up execution. Institutional buyers are watching.
Sources:
https://www.intc.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1738/lip-bu-tan-our-path-forward
https://www.techspot.com/news/107736-intel-doubles-down-foundry-ambitions-unveils-18a-14a.html
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/foundry/process.html
https://www.fonearena.com/blog/452666/intel-14a-18a-ecosystem-updates.html
https://www.fool.com/investing/2025/07/18/intel-might-be-quitting-the-ai-training-market-for/