AMD’s New Hiring Hints at Possible Collaboration with Intel Foundry

AMD’s new job posting makes it clear that the company is looking for engineers with experience in PowerVia and 3DStack technologies.

It wouldn’t be surprising if AMD were planning to adjust its manufacturing strategy with TSMC and consider outsourcing some production to Intel. Intel Foundry has made progress with its 18A and 14A fabrication processes, which could be interesting for upcoming AMD Ryzen or EPYC processors.

AMD’s Job Offer and What It Reveals

If you are a Physical Design Verification CAD Engineer and have experience with PowerVia, AMD has a job for you. PowerVia is Intel’s power delivery technology used in its 18A node — and this raises a few eyebrows.

Here’s part of the job description (thanks OC3D):

Preferred Experience

• Knowledge of Power Via and 3DStack concepts.
• Experience supporting design teams through successful tape-outs.
• Familiarity with layout editing tools such as Design REV and ICVWB.

Possible Shift in AMD’s Manufacturing Strategy

Everyone knows that TSMC manufactures AMD chips, and their relationship has been solid for years. However, this gives TSMC a great deal of power, since few rivals in the semiconductor industry offer better lithography or quality.

Now enters Intel Foundry, encouraged by U.S. policies under Trump, aiming to strengthen domestic cooperation and reduce dependency on Asia. Intel manufactures chips in Arizona and Ireland, and political pressure and tariffs on Asian products have made the semiconductor industry a key issue, especially for companies like TSMC and Samsung.

If AMD were to rely on Intel Foundry for Ryzen chip production, it could boost Intel’s market confidence. From an investor’s perspective, this might be a good time to look into Intel.

However, there’s a clear conflict of interest here — AMD and Intel are direct competitors in the desktop CPU market, essentially forming a duopoly.

As noted by the team at Overclockers, Intel would benefit both from its own CPU sales and from AMD’s success since it would mean more production orders and more revenue for Intel.

AMD, on the other hand, would face risks: exposing its intellectual property, revealing its product plans, and helping Intel profit indirectly. That’s why AMD traditionally worked with GlobalFoundries, a neutral third party, to manufacture its chips.