Skip to navigationSkip to main contentSkip to right columnADVERTISEMENTHarsh Chauhan, The Motley FoolMon, June 22, 2026 at 10:43 PM GMT+2 5 min readIntel (NASDAQ: INTC) has been losing ground to Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) in the server central processing unit (CPU) market, primarily due to the superior performance and lower costs of the latter's Epyc server CPUs.In fact, AMD seems better-positioned to capitalize on the growth of the server CPU market right now. After all, AMD is gaining share at a nice clip in server CPUs, a market that has received a nice shot in the arm thanks to the growing demand for AI inference workloads. Intel, however, is preparing to fight back against AMD, as evident from its latest move.Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »Image source: Intel.Intel recently announced that its advanced 18A-P process node is now in risk production. This is the stage during which chips are produced in low volumes to gather data on whether they will meet customer requirements, what their defect rate is, and whether they deliver the claimed performance and efficiency gains.It is worth noting that Intel 18A-P is a refined version of the company's 18A process node. The company is promising a 9% improvement in performance compared to the 18A at identical power consumption. Meanwhile, the 18A-P node uses 18% less power while operating at the same performance level as the 18A. Even better, Intel points out that the refined process node is 20% to 40% more thermal resistant, suggesting that it will cost less to cool.The risk production phase is ideally followed by volume production within the next 12 to 24 months, as noted by Tom's Hardware. However, as this is the refined version of an existing node, it is likely to take less time to get to that point. Intel has started volume production of client and server chips based on the 18A process already and noted on the April earnings call that this is the "fastest new product ramp in five years."Importantly, the Xeon 6 server processor, manufactured using Intel 18A, is gaining traction among server CPUs. Nvidia has selected it for its Rubin rack-scale servers. Moreover, Intel points out that demand for its Xeon server CPUs exceeds supply, suggesting that the company's most advanced process node could allow it to arrest the market share slide it has been experiencing in the CPU market.Terms and Privacy PolicyPrivacy & Cookie SettingsMore Info