March 4 (Reuters) - Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan is now starting to recognize its 18A manufacturing technology as a potential offering for ‌external clients after relegating it largely to internal use last ‌year, Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner said on Wednesday during a tech conference in ​San Francisco.

This could mark a reversal from a major facet of Tan's turnaround strategy set out last year, when he said he believes Intel's so-called 18A manufacturing process — in which his predecessor Pat Gelsinger had deeply invested — ‌could generate a reasonable ⁠return only if it is used for Intel's own products.

Shares of the company were up about 6% amid a ⁠broader uptick across chip stocks.

"While Lip-Bu was ... thinking that we probably should focus on 14A as a foundry node and make 18A really just an ​internal node, ​now that we've got seen some ​real progress there, I think ‌he's now starting to recognize that this is actually a good node to offer to external customers as well," Zinsner said at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom conference on Wednesday.

Reuters has reported that only a small percentage of the chips printed via 18A have been ‌good enough to make available to customers. ​Intel has said its yields, or the ​number of good chips per ​silicon wafer, are improving monthly. Weak yields also routinely ‌pressure margins.

Since his appointment as CEO, ​Tan has made ​big changes to Intel. Last year, Intel cut roughly 20% of its workforce as Tan reshaped the company's strategy to tackle artificial ​intelligence.

Tan has also vowed ‌to continue to operate Intel's factories and pursue new customers ​for its next-generation manufacturing tech called 14A.

(Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa ​in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)