Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) shareholders reelected all 11 director nominees and approved management-backed proposals at the company’s 2026 annual meeting, while rejecting three stockholder proposals, according to preliminary voting results announced during the meeting.
The meeting also marked a leadership transition at the board level. Frank Yeary, Intel’s chair of the board, said he would step down after 17 years as a director, calling the timing “the ideal time to transition leadership of the board.” Yeary said Dr. Craig H. Barratt, who joined the board last year, will become board chair.
Among the company’s achievements, Yeary pointed to the launch of products on Intel 18A, which he described as Intel’s “new leading-edge node” and “the most advanced semiconductor process technology developed and in high volume manufacturing in the United States.” He also cited a strengthened balance sheet and said the company had beaten expectations for the last six quarters.
Tan Says Intel Has Shifted From Survival Questions to Scaling Supply
Tan told shareholders he remains committed to building “a new Intel” focused on customers, engineering, core products, foundry customers and balance sheet strength.
“The conversation used to be about Intel was whether we could survive,” Tan said. “Today it is about how quickly we can scale supply to meet demand.”
Tan said Intel has made measurable progress, including six consecutive quarters of exceeding financial expectations, the successful ramp of Intel 18A, growing momentum in foundry and advanced packaging engagements, and a “meaningful, stronger balance sheet.” He added that Intel still has “much work ahead” and would remain focused on improving execution.
Shareholders Approve Company Proposals, Reject Stockholder Measures
Patrick Bombach, Intel’s corporate vice president and assistant corporate secretary, said preliminary results showed shareholders approved all five company proposals. Those included the election of directors, ratification of Ernst & Young as independent auditor for 2026, an advisory vote approving executive compensation, and amendments to Intel’s 2006 Equity Incentive Plan and 2006 Employee Stock Purchase Plan to increase authorized shares under those plans.
Shareholders rejected three stockholder proposals:
- A proposal from Bowyer Research Inc. on behalf of The Heritage Foundation requesting a report on risks tied to Intel’s China exposure.
- A proposal submitted by Nicholas Collins requesting a report on Intel’s human rights due diligence process.
- A proposal submitted by John Chevedden requesting an enduring policy separating the chair and CEO roles.
Intel’s board recommended shareholders vote against each of the three stockholder proposals. Bombach said final vote tallies would be posted on Intel’s website and reported with the SEC within four business days.
Manufacturing Expansion Focuses on Existing Capacity and Optionality
During the question-and-answer session, Tan addressed shareholder questions about Intel’s manufacturing expansion plans, including the company’s Ohio facility. He said Intel is operating in an environment with “strong demand” that appears sustainable beyond this year, but that the company is preserving flexibility and remaining disciplined with capital deployment.
Tan said Intel’s highest-return investment is maximizing output from current equipment and facilities. He said the company is also adding equipment in existing clean room space to increase capacity across its nodes, especially Intel 3 and Intel 18A.
“As for Ohio, we are continuing with the construction on the timeline we announced last year,” Tan said. “We are maintaining the optionality to adjust, especially as we make progress on our external foundry strategy.”
Tan also noted that Intel recently announced a major expansion of its back-end manufacturing site in Malaysia to support growing interest in advanced packaging technologies.
Board Says Capital Is Better Used for Investment Than Dividends
Yeary addressed questions about Intel’s dividend policy, noting that the company had been a dividend-paying stock for many years before reducing the dividend in 2023 and suspending it at the end of 2024.
Yeary said those decisions were “not easy” but were made to preserve and protect shareholders’ long-term interests. He said Intel’s balance sheet is now in a better position and the business is executing more effectively, but the board believes the best use of shareholder capital is to invest in Intel’s product and process roadmaps and build capacity to meet demand.
Tan also responded to questions about Intel’s competitive position in artificial intelligence. He said the early AI infrastructure build-out was focused on training foundation models, a GPU-intensive workload, but that inference, agentic AI, physical AI and edge AI could increase the importance of CPUs over time.
Tan said Intel sees opportunities in Xeon products, ASICs, advanced packaging, external wafers, power-optimized accelerators, and robotics and edge AI through the Core Ultra platform. He said the company has recently hired talent to accelerate those efforts.
On Intel 18A, Tan said yields are “trending ahead of our internal plan” and improving month over month. He added that Intel 14A maturity, yield and performance are outpacing Intel 18A at a similar point in time, with multiple customers actively evaluating the technology.
About Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)
Intel Corporation, founded in 1968 by Robert Noyce and Gordon E. Moore and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is a leading global designer and manufacturer of semiconductor products. The company is historically notable for introducing the first commercial microprocessor and for driving the x86 architecture that underpins many personal computers and servers. Intel’s core business spans the design, fabrication and marketing of processors, chipsets and related components for a wide range of computing applications.
Intel’s product portfolio includes client and mobile processors marketed under brands such as Intel Core and Pentium, as well as high-performance Xeon processors for data centers and cloud infrastructure.
