Intel RAMP-C 18A has reached the end of its government-backed pilot phase, with Intel Foundry saying it has completed the U.S. program meant to build a secure domestic supply chain for advanced chips. The practical point is blunt: partners were paid to try Intel’s still-maturing 18A manufacturing process before normal customers would have had much reason to risk their own money.
The program, awarded to Intel in 2021, supported test-chip work by commercial and defense companies on an unfinished design kit. Intel says the end of RAMP-C marks readiness for external customers to pay for production, including customers that could use its defense-focused Secure Enclave manufacturing flow.
Intel did not identify any new paying customers tied to the program’s completion. The known participant list, disclosed over several phases, includes Nvidia, Microsoft, IBM, Qualcomm, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Trusted Semiconductor Solutions and Reliable MicroSystems.
What is Intel RAMP-C?
RAMP-C was a U.S. government effort to help establish leading-edge chip manufacturing inside the United States, using Intel’s 18A process as the test bed. The program covered costs for partners to run prototype silicon while Intel’s process design kit was still immature, which gave Intel feedback before full commercial production.
Stu Pann, then senior vice president and general manager of Intel Foundry Services, told Tom’s Hardware in February 2024 that IBM, Microsoft and Nvidia were among the announced partners running RAMP-C-funded test chips. Pann said the funding let those companies work with immature process design kits, something they normally would avoid, while Intel received data on power, performance, area and cost.
Intel disclosed the roster in pieces. Nvidia, Qualcomm, Microsoft and IBM appeared in the first two phases. Boeing and Northrop Grumman joined in July 2023. Intel says Trusted Semiconductor Solutions and Reliable MicroSystems were added through a third phase awarded in April 2024.
Nvidia’s RAMP-C role predates its later investment in Intel by years. Nvidia agreed in September 2025 to buy $5 billion of Intel common stock, and that deal closed in December at $23.28 per share for more than 217.4 million shares. The companies’ agreement covers custom x86 CPUs and RTX system-on-chips, according to Tom’s Hardware, and does not require Nvidia to manufacture its own chips at Intel.
How does Secure Enclave fit into this?
Intel says RAMP-C helped shape Secure Enclave, a manufacturing flow aimed at defense industrial base products. Secure Enclave spans design, chip fabrication and advanced packaging, so the concern is not just where a wafer is made, but how sensitive work is handled across the production chain.
The Secure Enclave program is worth up to $3 billion and was finalized alongside Intel’s $7.86 billion CHIPS Act award in November 2024. Congress required CHIPS funding to pay for Secure Enclave, which reduced the commercial grant from the originally proposed $8.5 billion.
The milestone arrives while Intel Foundry is still trying to turn technical progress into customer revenue. In its Q2 2026 results, Intel reported $293 million in external foundry revenue, compared with $5.8 billion in total segment revenue and a $2.1 billion operating loss.
Fortinet, named last week as the first publicly disclosed external foundry customer under Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, is using Intel 4 for its security processor rather than 18A. On the same earnings call, Intel said it plans high-volume manufacturing for 14A in 2028.
This story draws on original reporting from Tom's Hardware.
