ntel in the past has exclusively retained manufacturing facilities for its own chips, but late last year said it would make FPGAs (field-programmable gate arrays) for Achronix Semiconductor. Another FPGA product designer, Tabula, on Tuesday said it would have its products made on Intel's 22-nanometer process. Intel's Mulloy said the company has even more customers, but couldn't reveal their names.

"We think we've got a world-class process. We also understand we are an integrated device manufacturer, but we don't have experience as a foundry," Mulloy said. "It's very much about us learning how to do this."

Intel formed a team two years ago to see whether it was feasible to expand its manufacturing process to other products, Mulloy said. The company doesn't expect to be a large-scale foundry company like its rivals, but Mulloy said there could be strategic advantages in opening up its manufacturing facilities.