Intel equity is also performing exceptionally well, gaining 80% in 2025, outpacing its rivals, like Advanced Micro Devices, which has advanced by 0.71% on December 23, and the overall group of the Magnificent Seven technology conglomerates.
After Pat Gelsinger was replaced in March, Lip-Bu Tan became the executive leader position, initiating cost-cutting measures and strengthening strategic alliance of companies in the industry that helped regain trust amongst players in the market.
Other profits were realized by Nvidia, which contributed to $5 billion, and Softbank, which contributed to $2 billion, with TSMC whose stock increased 1.50%.
These measures prevented an unprecedented loss of money but Nvidia participation on equity did not carry over to a committed foundry relationship.
Intel legacy is also a big part to look at, as it was instrumental in the creation of the microprocessor and the x86 instruction set architecture which have contributed to the creation of the digital economy as per the Moore Law.
However, continuous operational failures have made TSMC surpass Intel in key market segments and this has led to de-muscularization of the Intel market share of the central processing unit to competitors such as AMD and ARM.
The 14A Make‑or‑Break Moment
In their strategic focus, the company is now involved in the 18A process node which will be in-house used in the Panther Lake personal computers and Clearwater Forest servers of the company which is a pre-requisite to the next 18AP and 14A node.
There is still speculation on the possibility of contracts with Apple in which it seeks to supply 18AP process technology in cost-effective devices.
The thing is that 18A isn’t just a promising node in its own right, according to Moorhead.
It’s laying the foundations for what could be an even more important node for Intel, 14A.
“That’s further toward the horizon for volume production,”
“But it has an increased likelihood of success because of the great work already done on 18A and 18A-P. Intel customers I’ve talked with who have seen this one say that 14A is the real deal.”
Future Outlook
In the future, the path that Intel will follow will depend on whether its 14A node will be successful and whether it will be capable of aligning its policy motivators.
In case Tan can acquire large volume orders with Nvidia or Apple, the United States is likely to take back the leadership role in the semiconductor industry.
On the other hand, in an event whereby the market presence of TSMC remains aggressive, the future of the company in 2026 is something that should be analyzed critically.
Discover more from Being Shivam
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.