Intel starts risk production of faster 18A-P chipmaking process

Intel Foundry has moved its next process refinement a step closer to volume, saying its 18A-P node has entered risk production on the schedule it had previously committed to customers. The update was delivered at the VLSI Symposium and detailed in an Intel newsroom post dated June 16, 2026.

The 18A-P node is the first performance enhancement within the broader Intel 18A family, which entered production in 2025 as the company’s first process built on its RibbonFET gate-all-around transistors and PowerVia backside power delivery. Intel says 18A-P delivers 9 percent higher performance at the same power, or alternatively 18 percent lower power at the same performance level, compared with 18A.

Beyond raw speed, Intel highlighted physical improvements that matter for dense, high-power AI and server designs. The node offers 20 to 40 percent better thermal resistance and a 10 to 30 percent reduction in via resistance. Crucially, Intel says 18A-P is fully design-compatible with 18A, letting customers reuse existing work as they move to the faster variant.

The company also outlined the engineering options underpinning the node, including a Power Boost dual-contact, low-resistance transistor design, PMOS mobility gains through strain engineering, a fifth logic threshold-voltage pair, two cell heights of 180nm and 160nm, and a 50nm contacted poly pitch.

Intel used the symposium to look further ahead as well, pointing to research on CFET inverters at a 45nm gate pitch, integration of gallium nitride with silicon, and subtractive ruthenium interconnect technology as future directions for its process roadmap.

“Our updates signal we are fully committed to leading-edge process innovation over the long term,” said Naga Chandrasekaran, executive vice president and general manager of Intel Foundry.

The progress matters beyond Intel’s own chips. A healthier Intel Foundry offering strengthens the case for a second leading-edge manufacturing option outside Taiwan, a point of growing interest for governments and buyers in the MENA region weighing supply-chain resilience.

Sources: Intel Newsroom

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