Chip giant (NASDAQ: INTC) recently disclosed that it had received a large prepayment from an unnamed customer to secure capacity on its Intel 18A process node. Intel 18A is scheduled to be ready by the end of 2024, and the company expects it to deliver a manufacturing edge over TSMC.

Intel's foundry business already has a few significant customer wins under its belt. The company reached an agreement with MediaTek last year to manufacture chips on Intel's advanced process nodes, and it recently scored Ericsson as a customer. Ericsson will rely on the Intel 18A process for future custom 5G system on chipsets (SoCs).

While the source of the large prepayment is a mystery, Citi analyst Christopher Danely thinks the customer is a "whale," or a customer that will spend far more than the average customer. There are only so many of those, and some seem unlikely. AMD and NVIDIA both compete with Intel in various ways, and while those companies may eventually consider Intel for manufacturing, neither is likely champing at the bit to do so.

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Source Fool.com