Innovators in Electronic Design - Trailblazer: Stuart Pann, Intel Foundry Services
Stuart Pann first joined Intel in 1981 at the dawn of the PC era and returned in 2021 when CEO Pat Gelsinger introduced Intel’s IDM 2.0 strategy. When hearing Gelsinger’s vision, Pann was motivated by the opportunity to help restore Intel’s global leadership in the growing semiconductor industry.
Upon his return, Pann established Intel’s IDM 2.0 Acceleration Office (IAO) to guide the implementation of an internal foundry model, shifting the way the company operates to better serve the needs of its global customers. IAO closely collaborates with all Intel business units and functional teams to support the company’s internal foundry model.
Today, Pann’s role is leading Intel Foundry Services (IFS) to help to transform Intel’s business, drive a new era of manufacturing innovation, and build a more resilient supply chain for the entire semiconductor industry. As general manager of IFS, Pann remains closely engaged with Intel’s internal foundry model while also representing the interests of IFS and its customers in tight partnership with Intel’s Technology Development and Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Operations organizations.
Intel is one of only three companies in the world that currently make leading-edge chips. And until IFS was created, Intel was the only one without a commercial foundry. By tapping into Intel’s leading-edge manufacturing capabilities, supply chain, and strong partner ecosystem, IFS has the goal of becoming the second-largest foundry by 2030.
Pann says that Intel Foundry Services is a critical pillar of the company’s IDM 2.0 strategy. “It’s been exciting to watch it grow from an idea to an operating business with a world-class IP portfolio and significant customers in less than two years. I am committed to championing the interests of our foundry customers and to helping them take advantage of Intel’s leading-edge process technology and full stack of open-systems foundry offerings so they can succeed in a world that demands ever more computing.”
Arm, Synopsys and Tower Semiconductor have signed agreements with IFS since Pann took the reins of the foundry systems. It also signals the momentum building around IFS and is part of Intel’s long-term view of delivering the world’s first open-system foundry. Overall, it helps foster a vibrant foundry ecosystem that can serve global customers with compute built on Intel technology, provide foundry services and manufacturing capacity for other semiconductor companies, and accelerate the availability of IP access for the Intel foundry ecosystem.
Pann knows that to succeed, he and his team must take IFS beyond the traditional foundry offerings and build IFS as the world’s first open system foundry, leading the industry transition from standard monolithic system-on-chip to “systems of chips” in a package.
Intel Foundry Systems’ combined offerings of wafer fabrication, advanced process and packaging technology, chiplet standards, software, ecosystem, and assembly and test capabilities will help customers build innovative silicon designs and deliver complete end-to-end customizable products. It’s a big undertaking, but Pann is bringing Intel closer to becoming a new leading-edge foundry alternative for the world.