By CTech
Publication Date: 2026-09-29 07:40:00
“My competitor sitting at the head of my table.”
That is how Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan described the unusual relationships he has built with some of the most powerful executives in the semiconductor industry.
Speaking with Jodi Shelton on her podcast “A Bit Personal with Jodi,” Tan described Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, AMD CEO Lisa Su and TSMC founder Morris Chang not simply as competitors, but as friends, business partners and, in some cases, financial counterparts.
The relationships offer a glimpse into the unusually interconnected nature of the semiconductor industry, where companies can compete in one market while depending on each other elsewhere in the supply chain.
Tan’s most striking account concerned Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, whose company is Intel’s competitor in computing while also relying on many of the same suppliers and technology providers.
Tan said that when he became CEO of Cadence Design Systems, the electronic design automation company whose software is used to design advanced chips, he reached out to Huang despite expectations that the two would be competitors.
“People were surprised, you know, when I started, I reached out to Jensen. People thought that he’s my competitor, and we became partners, and he invested five billion when I needed that.”
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