Chip fab Intel said to be using better chip fab TSMC to make 5nm Core i3 process

[UK Sentinel]

So reading THEREGISTER.com they are saying that Intel are outsourcing around 20% of their non cpu chips manufacturing to TSMC and UMC.

TSMC:  Taiwan Semiconductor manufacturing company

UMC:  United Microelectronics Corporation

 

Full Story:

Ahead of Intel publishing its latest quarterly financial results on Thursday, let’s have a quick reminder of who is actually making chip manufacturer Intel’s chips these days.

Market analysts at TrendForce claimed this month TSMC will handle the mass production of Intel’s 5nm Core i3 processors in the second half of this year. Chipzilla’s mid- and high-end processors parts will be built by the Taiwanese foundry using a 3nm process node in the second half of next year, it is also thought.

And TrendForce reckoned “Intel has outsourced the production of about 15 to 20 per cent of its non-CPU chips, with most of the wafer starts for these products assigned to TSMC and UMC,” citing its own “investigations.” By non-CPU, it means some of Intel’s graphics processors and other components as well as sub-components.

But that’s not all. Intel is said to be in talks with TSMC for “five projects,” some of which include GPUs, AI accelerators, and system-on-chips, according to Nikkei Asia. Beyond these partnerships, Intel will, presumably, fabricate the rest of its product lineup by itself as usual.

Unlike most semiconductor outfits, Intel has the facilities to both design and manufacture its own processors in-house. It used to be at the leading edge in the chip fab world, yet over the past five years, it has suffered set backs – delays to its 10nm and 7nm process nodes, primarily, while stumbling with cellphone chip and cellular modem designs – and lost ground to rival foundries TSMC and Samsung.

Mass production of 7nm processors is well underway at TSMC, and it’s already rolling out 5nm and soon 3nm parts. Chipzilla’s fabless competitors, such as AMD and Nvidia, have tapped up TSMC to make their silicon, and thus have stolen a march on Intel. And Apple, a long-time customer of Intel’s x64 processors, is touting MacBooks powered by its astonishing homegrown Arm-compatible TSMC-fabricated 5nm M1 chip. It’s said Apple is TSMC’s primary customer right now, responsible for an estimated 20 per cent of its revenues.

Follow full story @ Source: https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/21/intel_tsmc_rumours/

Share the knowledge

In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom (J.G.Ballard).

You need to login in order to vote

[Author]

Posts