Intel is understood to be in active talks with Google and Amazon to provide advanced chip packaging services for their custom AI processors, according to a WIRED report published today, citing multiple sources. “Multiple sources say that Intel has been in ongoing talks with at least two large customers for its advanced packaging services: Google and Amazon,” claims the report.

The deals, if closed, would represent a major influx of external revenue for Intel Foundry, which CFO Dave Zinsner said at the recent Morgan Stanley TMT conference is "close to closing some deals that are in the billions of dollars per year, in terms of revenue on packaging." Google, Amazon, and Intel all declined to comment on the specific customer relationships.

Intel's advanced packaging portfolio centers on EMIB, a 2.5D technology that embeds small silicon bridges in the package substrate to connect chiplets, and Foveros, its 3D die-stacking process. The next-generation EMIB-T, which adds through-silicon vias to the bridge for improved power delivery and signal integrity, is set to roll out in production fabs this year. EMIB-T supports packages up to 120x180mm and can accommodate more than 38 bridges and over 12 reticle-sized dies.

Intel is scaling capacity across three countries. Its Fab 9 facility in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, received $500 million from the CHIPS Act and has been operational since January 2024.

In Malaysia, the Penang advanced packaging complex is 99% complete and will begin first-phase assembly and testing operations later this year, according to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who confirmed the timeline after a briefing with Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan in March. Intel has also outsourced EMIB production for the first time to Amkor's Songdo K5 facility in South Korea, with additional sites planned in Portugal and Arizona.

Naga Chandrasekaran, head of Intel Foundry, told WIRED that packaging has become more consequential than the silicon itself for AI computing going forward. “Even more so than the silicon itself, chip packaging is going to transform how this AI revolution comes to fruition over the next decade”, he said.

Zinsner said at the January Q4 2025 earnings call that he had revised his packaging revenue projections over the previous 12 to 18 months from hundreds of millions of dollars to "well north of $1 billion." He added at the Morgan Stanley event that packaging could achieve the same 40% gross margins Intel claims on its core product business.

Those projections contrast sharply with the division's current financials. Intel Foundry posted $4.5 billion in revenue for Q4 2025 with a $2.5 billion operating loss. External foundry revenue for the full year totaled just $307 million, mostly from U.S. government contracts and residual Altera work. The Foundry division lost $10.3 billion on $17.8 billion in revenue for all of 2025, driven largely by the cost of ramping Intel 18A.

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Luke James is a freelance writer and journalist.  Although his background is in legal, he has a personal interest in all things tech, especially hardware and microelectronics, and anything regulatory.