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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallThe EE Times On Air episode published on March 26, 2021 combines two semiconductor stories: Intel’s plan to build a standalone foundry business and an AspenCore technical guide to gallium nitride (GaN) power electronics. The Intel discussion captures 2021 analyst expectations—not a current performance assessment—while the GaN segment explains where the material was becoming important in power conversion.
What the March 26, 2021 episode covers
“Intel Throws a Curveball | The Book on Gallium Nitride” is a two-part EE Times On Air episode hosted by Brian Santo. Jim McGregor and Kevin Krewell of Tirias Research discuss Intel’s manufacturing strategy, then the program turns to An AspenCore Guide to Gallium Nitride: A New Era for Power Electronics.
| Episode segment | Subject | What the discussion establishes |
|---|---|---|
| Intel’s “curveball” | Standalone foundry strategy | Analyst interpretation of Intel’s 2021 announcement, including customer focus, capacity, packaging and execution risks. |
| “The Book on Gallium Nitride” | AspenCore technical guide | Editorial description of GaN technology, applications, markets, references and test-and-measurement coverage. |
What did Intel announce about its foundry business?
In 2021, Intel presented a third path between concentrating exclusively on its own manufacturing and leaving manufacturing altogether: a standalone foundry business intended to make chips for external customers while continuing to support Intel’s internal products. The proposal made customer access and manufacturing execution central to the strategy.
The analysts’ 2021 framework
- Customer focus: McGregor and Krewell treated the ability to understand and serve outside customers as different from building fabs for Intel alone.
- Process competitiveness: External customers would compare Intel’s process technology and readiness with other foundry suppliers.
- Capacity and utilization: New or expanded fabs need enough demand to avoid underused capacity.
- Packaging and ecosystem: The customer proposition includes advanced packaging, design collaboration and a dependable supplier ecosystem, not just transistor fabrication.
- Execution: McGregor summarized his concern this way: “But really, the one key thing for Intel going forward, especially with this new manufacturing strategy, is execution.” He made that comment in the 2021 episode, as an analyst discussing the announcement.
Why the “third path” was difficult
A foundry must win design starts before it can fill capacity, support customers’ design flows and deliver predictable process schedules. The speakers therefore discussed collaboration with IBM, packaging capability and the value of another major foundry supplier, while warning that the strategy would depend on practical delivery rather than the announcement alone.
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What Intel says about the strategy now
The 2021 podcast should not be read as a report on Intel’s present commercial position. In a June 16, 2026 update, Intel Foundry said Intel 18A entered production in 2025 and described a GaN-plus-silicon power-management demonstration. Those are statements from Intel about its milestones and research, not independent proof that the foundry business has reached broad commercial success.
Intel’s 2025 Form 10-K gives a further qualification: the company says it has had “few external customers to date” and that it may pause or discontinue the next generation of leading-edge development if it cannot secure a significant external Intel 14A customer. The filing describes external foundry as a long-term strategy. These disclosures make execution and customer traction the key conditions to watch, just as the 2021 analysts emphasized.
What is the AspenCore guide to gallium nitride?
An AspenCore Guide to Gallium Nitride: A New Era for Power Electronics is described in the episode as roughly 150 pages of technical articles from industry contributors, with a foreword by Alex Lidow. The editors organize the material around four practical areas:
- GaN technology and technical references
- Power-electronics applications
- Market opportunities
- Testing and measurement, including automotive test considerations
The guide is a reference-style collection rather than a buyer’s comparison of named GaN devices. The episode does not establish a current edition, retailer stock status or a ranking against other books.
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Why GaN matters in power electronics
The editors explain that GaN can enable higher efficiency and higher switching frequency in suitable power-conversion designs. Those characteristics can help engineers pursue smaller chargers and adapters, but the benefit depends on the complete design—device choice, topology, thermal management, control, packaging and compliance—not on the material name alone.
Applications named in the episode
- Consumer electronics chargers and adapters
- Industrial power supplies and conversion equipment
- Automotive and mobility power switching
- Wireless-device and 5G-related power systems
- Space power conversion
- GaN testing and measurement, including automotive test work
These examples show the range of subjects covered by the episode and guide. They are not a comparative product test or a claim that every application is ready for the same GaN implementation.
How the two segments fit together
The Intel and GaN stories share a manufacturing theme. Intel’s foundry proposal concerned the ability to manufacture for more customers and integrate process, packaging and ecosystem support. GaN power electronics concerns a different part of the semiconductor value chain: selecting and validating a power technology for efficient switching and conversion. Together, the segments show why semiconductor progress depends on both factory execution and application-specific engineering.
What readers should take from the episode
- The episode date matters: its Intel analysis belongs to March 2021.
- McGregor and Krewell’s comments are analyst assessments, not audited measurements of Intel’s later results.
- Intel’s 2026 update reports 18A production and a GaN-plus-silicon demonstration, while its 2025 filing acknowledges limited external-customer traction and continuing 14A risk.
- The AspenCore guide is useful for readers who need a broad technical and application overview of GaN power electronics, including testing.
- No verified market statistic or device-level performance comparison should be inferred from this episode.
The Bottom Line
The podcast remains valuable as a snapshot of Intel’s 2021 foundry gamble and as an introduction to GaN’s role in power conversion. For Intel, the decisive questions are still external-customer traction and execution; for GaN, the guide provides context across technology, applications and measurement rather than a product-buying verdict.
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