After years of problems and delays, Intel's chipmaking division has finally received some positive news. The company's most sophisticated production technique will come in the second half of 2024, six months sooner than expected.
Because of challenges updating its production, Intel slipped behind rivals Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and Samsung, and it persuaded chip designer Pat Gelsinger to return to the business as CEO in 2021. Soon after, Intel unveiled a roadmap that included five manufacturing process enhancements over the next four years, dubbed Intel 7, Intel 4, Intel 8, Intel 20A, and Intel 18A. Each stage increases the performance of a semiconductor while lowering its power consumption.
These stages are the cornerstone of a strategy to catch up to competitors in 2024 and outperform them in 2025. If Gelsinger's plan succeeds, Windows PCs will be able to keep up with ever-more powerful Macs, Intel will be able to justify its tens of billions of dollars in spending, and the move of chip manufacture from the United States to Asia will be slowed.
"Intel has to have a lot of faith in the [schedule] pull in," Tirias analyst Kevin Krewell said. "If that's the case, why reveal it so soon?"
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Intel announced the progress along with the opening of its newest chip fabrication facility, or fab, dedicated to researching next-generation manufacturing techniques. It does this work in Gordon Moore Park in Oregon, where it is investing $3 billion in the new Mod3 wing of its D1X fab. Intel's D1X processes are replicated at fabs all around the world.
The good news about manufacturing development bodes well not only for Intel's 2024 processors but also for Intel's company as a whole.
These processes are critical for Intel's own processors as well as Intel Foundry Services, a distinct business arm set up to create other people's chips in the same manner as TSMC and Samsung do. Customers of IFS will have access to Intel 3 and Intel 18A processes, according to the business.
Gelsinger had intimated before that the company's chip production advances were on track or ahead of schedule, and in February, he demonstrated an 18A wafer with test chips. Intel didn't go into detail about what went well.
According to Ryan Russell, corporate vice president of logic technology development, the new 270,000-square-foot Mod3 building has high enough ceilings and strong enough floors to accommodate the latest machines used to etch circuitry onto silicon crystal wafers that, after months of processing steps, become microchips.
Intel lagged behind its competitors in adopting chipmaking equipment that utilizes harsh ultraviolet light to inscribe tiny circuitry parts on chips, a technique known as photolithography, which is a critical part of CPU shrinking. Under Gelsinger's leadership, Intel is attempting to improve relations with semiconductor manufacturing equipment manufacturers such as ASML in the Netherlands. Indeed, Intel will acquire the first model of ASML's second generation of EUV machines, which use a technique known as a high numeric aperture to inscribe finer lines than traditional EUV.
Intel has taken a number of steps to guarantee that it would not make the same mistakes it did when it adopted its past two production processes, Intel 10 and Intel 7. For one thing, it entails spending more money on test wafers in order to experiment with various choices.
"Having additional silicon that can operate in parallel actually helps you speed up your development process because you can do more new tests," Russell explained.