Intel closes out RAMP-C production pilot that paid Nvidia and others to run test chips on 18A — program helped lay a path for secure domestic chip production on advanced processes

(Image credit: Intel)

Intel Foundry says that it has completed RAMP-C, the United States government program awarded to the company in 2021 to stand up a secure, domestic leading-edge chip ecosystem on its 18A process. The program funneled money to commercial and defense partners to run test chips on a design kit that wasn't finished yet, and its conclusion marks readiness for external customers who will pay full price to fabricate real products, including those who might use the Intel Secure Enclave manufacturing flow that RAMP-C helped to shape.The announcement doesn't name any customers that Intel may have secured as a result of RAMP-C, although the program roster has been public for years and includes Nvidia, Microsoft, IBM, Qualcomm, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman. That may be down to the sensitive nature of any actual defense industrial base (DIB) products that are likely to be produced with the Secure Enclave defense-focused manufacturing flow for those products, which spans project stages from design to chip fabrication to advanced packaging.Intel says RAMP-C was one of the programs that influenced Secure Enclave, and having a number of potential DIB customers run and test prototypes on 18A through likely generated valuable knowledge for Intel, the U.S. government, and its partners as those stakeholders work together to create a defense-ready domestic chip source.Stu Pann, then SVP and GM of Intel Foundry Services, told Tom's Hardware back in February 2024 that the program's announced partners were IBM, Microsoft, and Nvidia, and that all three were running test chips paid for by RAMP-C. The funding let them "operate with immature PDKs, which normally they wouldn't do," Pann said, and covered their associated costs. Intel got PPAC data in return: how prospective customers rated 18A on power, performance, area, and cost.Intel disclosed the roster in stages rather than all at once. Nvidia, Qualcomm, Microsoft, and IBM were named across the first two phases, Boeing and Northrop Grumman joined in July 2023, and Trusted Semiconductor Solutions and Reliable MicroSystems came in under a third phase that Intel says was awarded in April 2024.Nvidia's participation runs back to the program's early phases, four years before it agreed to buy $5 billion of Intel common stock in September 2025, a deal that closed in December at $23.28 per share for more than 217.4 million shares. That agreement covers custom x86 CPUs and RTX SoCs, and carries no commitment to manufacture Nvidia silicon at Intel.Secure Enclave, the follow-on program Intel references, is worth up to $3 billion and was finalized alongside the company's $7.86 billion CHIPS Act award in November 2024. Congress required that CHIPS money pay for it, which is why the commercial grant is smaller than the $8.5 billion originally proposed.Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.Intel Foundry booked $293 million in external revenue last quarter against $5.8 billion in total segment revenue and a $2.1 billion operating loss, according to the company's Q2 2026 financial results. Fortinet, named last week as the first publicly disclosed external foundry customer under CEO Lip-Bu Tan, is building its security processor on Intel 4 rather than 18A. On the same earnings call, Intel committed to 14A high-volume manufacturing in 2028.