Intel Foundry has built substantial manufacturing capacity in the United States, with Fab 52 in Arizona surpassing TSMC’s Arizona campus in both production capacity and building space. A CNBC crew that toured Fab 52 reported that Intel’s facility produces approximately 10,000 wafers per week, totaling over 40,000 wafers per month. The plant is focused on the 18A node, which Intel describes as its most advanced design, and it incorporates technologies such as a backside power delivery network and gate-all-around transistors.
When compared to TSMC’s operations in Arizona, Intel’s Fab 52 is positioned as both larger and more advanced in node technology. TSMC currently produces about 20,000 wafers per month at the older N5 and N4 nodes, which are 5 nm class, during the Fab 21 Phase 1 stage. While TSMC intends to expand Fab 21 in order to increase wafer capacity and bring in more advanced nodes, the company is expected to keep its leading process generations primarily in Taiwan, which leaves its United States production running a few generations behind.
Intel’s manufacturing strategy with Fab 52 is currently centered on its own product roadmap rather than broad use by external customers. The 18A node is mainly reserved for Intel’s internal products, including the upcoming ‘Panther Lake’ processor and some future generations. Intel does have a limited number of external partners lined up to use its nodes, but the emphasis at Fab 52 is on ramping leading edge production capacity for Intel-designed chips, reinforcing the company’s ambition to regain process leadership from its base in Arizona.
