During an August 13 appearance on the TechSurge: Deep Tech VC Podcast, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan dropped strong hints about potentially jumping back into the memory chip sector. Shares of INTC climbed to $104.56 at Friday’s open, marking a roughly 3.6% daily gain.
Characterizing innovative memory designs as “one of my pet projects,” Tan explained his evolving perspective: “I used to not invest in memory because it was kind of a commodity business. But now it has become different.”
While falling short of confirming any official initiative, the accumulating evidence makes Intel’s intentions increasingly difficult to dismiss.
The chronology aligns closely with Intel’s massive $20 billion equity raise, finalized on August 10. The offering was expanded from its original $15 billion scope and executed at $95 per share for 210.5 million shares. Demonstrating personal conviction, Tan invested $12 million of family capital at the offering price.
Funds are designated for capital investments and advanced packaging capabilities—terminology that meshes seamlessly with requirements for a memory business expansion.
Intel brought Seok-Hee Lee aboard in June as executive vice president of Intel Foundry. Lee previously led SK Hynix as CEO. Tan referenced this strategic hire during the podcast conversation: “So you kind of know something that I’m thinking about.”
Lee’s recruitment strengthens the memory narrative considerably, though complications exist. Reports indicate SK Hynix is separately negotiating to purchase Intel’s Ohio manufacturing facility for domestic memory chip production, creating potentially conflicting interests given Lee’s connections to both organizations.
Intel has secured patent protection for cross-batch memory (XBM), an ultra-high-bandwidth design engineered to deliver HBM4-level performance while eliminating the expensive silicon interposer component found in conventional HBM architectures. The application was submitted December 26, 2024 and received publication July 2, 2026.
Simultaneously, Intel is collaborating with SAIMEMORY, owned by SoftBank, on Z-Angle Memory (ZAM) technology. ZAM represents a nine-layer stacked DRAM configuration marketed as a more power-efficient substitute for HBM.
Micron projects the worldwide HBM market will expand from approximately $35 billion in 2025 to around $100 billion by 2028, representing a compound annual growth rate near 40%.
That revenue potential is substantial. However, execution challenges loom large. “There are always many concepts for new forms of memory, but it is extremely difficult for them to go through verification and commercialization and ultimately reach mass production,” noted Lee Jong-hwan, a professor of system semiconductor engineering at Sangmyung University.
Intel reported Q2 2026 revenue of $16.13 billion, representing 25% year-over-year growth. The data center and AI division expanded 59%. Earnings per share reached $0.42, exceeding analyst projections of $0.21 by double.
Institutional ownership of INTC currently stands at 64.53%. Major holders including Vanguard, State Street, Capital World Investors, Geode Capital and Morgan Stanley have all expanded their stakes. Analyst consensus places the price target at $107.85, with 32 of 50 analysts assigning a “Hold” rating.
Neither XBM nor ZAM has received a confirmed commercialization schedule.
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