Intel Foundry Wraps Up RAMP-C, Turns to Secure Enclave for Defense Chips

• RAMP-C gave defense firms a domestic path to design and fabricate trusted chips
• It ran in three phases, from technology and design tools through customer onboarding to hardware prototype tapeouts
• Participants used Intel’s 18A process, whose new transistor and power-delivery tech help meet size, weight and power limits

Intel Foundry has finished its work on RAMP-C, the Department of War program built to establish leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing on U.S. soil. Intel announced the conclusion Tuesday.

Short for Rapid Assured Microelectronics Prototypes – Commercial, the program provided defense industrial base companies with a domestic route for designing and fabricating trusted microelectronics. Eric Makara, program manager for microelectronics at the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering, said the work produced state-of-the-art domestic semiconductor technology and design enablement infrastructure.

What Did RAMP-C Deliver Through Its Three Phases?

The first phase built out technology, intellectual property and design tools, readying commercial and defense customers to attempt test chip tapeouts. The second brought early customers onto the program and widened the intellectual property and ecosystem available for Intel 18A designs.

Phase three moved to hardware. Intel backed the tapeout and testing of early defense prototypes, which the company said demonstrates readiness for manufacturing at scale.

Which Defense Customers Used RAMP-C?

The Department of War picked Intel Foundry for the third phase in April 2024. Intel added Trusted Semiconductor Solutions and Reliable MicroSystems as defense industrial base customers in January 2025.

Participants worked on Intel 18A, a process that introduces the company’s RibbonFET transistor architecture and PowerVia power delivery. Intel said early access let defense customers meet size, weight and power constraints on their designs.

How Does Secure Enclave Follow RAMP-C?

Intel positioned Secure Enclave as the next destination for RAMP-C customers. The company said that the program extends trusted manufacturing of leading-edge semiconductors for the U.S. government at production volumes.

Secure Enclave also draws on the State-of-the-art Heterogeneous Integrated Packaging program, known as SHIP, another Intel effort with the Department of War.

The Trusted and Assured Microelectronics office within the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering ran RAMP-C. The award came through the Strategic and Spectrum Missions Advanced Resilient Trusted Systems other transaction authority, or S2MARTS.