A cutting-edge computer chip manufactured in Arizona is seeing growing demand, said Intel Chief Executive Officer Lip-Bu Tan on July 23.
The cost to produce the main “Panther Lake” product, manufactured with the company’s 18A process at Intel’s new fabrication plant in Chandler, has been cut in half over the past year. Company officials said they expect the cost to drop again this year.
Even as the company’s CEO urged caution on new investments, Intel has been betting on 18A and the new fabrication plant.
“As yields improve on 18A further, we do expect margins to improve on Panther Lake,” said Chief Financial Officer Dave Zinsner during the Thursday call.
The company is now reporting its “strongest revenue growth in more than 15 years,” after successful
second-quarter earnings. In the July 23 earnings call, executives shared that the quarter brought in more than $16 billion. That total is 25% higher than the second quarter of 2025, which preceded major layoffs.
Tan gave investors an update on what he described as the “new Intel,” which is emerging from a major restructuring last year that left hundreds of Arizona workers jobless.
Tan said the efforts to make the company more efficient were paying off, but that more work was needed.
“We made good progress this quarter on our journey to transform Intel, the new Intel,” Tan said. “But we still have a lot to do ahead of us.”
The earnings call came two days after the company confirmed it planned to lay off an undisclosed number of workers in its data center group — despite Tan saying that the data center and artificial intelligence group had a “solid” quarter. Executives didn't dwell on layoffs on the call. A Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification Act has not yet been published on the Arizona Job Connection database.
When Tan took the helm at Intel in March 2025, he promised change for a company he felt had earned a reputation for being “too slow, too complex, and too set in our ways.”
Part of Tan’s transformation — prompted by major business losses — included laying off thousands of workers worldwide, including roughly 800 in Arizona. The layoffs followed another round of cuts in 2024.
Tan also said the company would be more judicious in its investments going forward.
But there were wins for the beleaguered tech company last year. Intel finished building out its semiconductor factory in Chandler. The company also reached a series of deals with NVIDIA, Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. and the federal government, which became a 10% owner of the company.
Alaina Mencinger covers tech, utilities and energy for The Arizona Republic. Reach her at Alaina.Mencinger@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Intel touts growing demand for Arizona-made chip amid layoffs
