Call it a comeback—with consequences not just for Intel but also the US government’s hopes of maintaining a lead in artificial intelligence. The troubled chipmaker’s CEO Pat Gelsinger announced today that Intel is relaunching and expanding its foundry business, which manufactures chip designs for other companies.
Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella also appeared at the Intel event where he announced that his company will use Intel’s relaunched foundry to make future chips. That’s a major coup for the chipmaker as it seeks to become relevant again and compete with the world’s leading foundry, Taiwan’s TSMC, which makes chips for customers including Apple and Google.
“We will need a reliable supply of the most advanced high performance and high quality semiconductors,” Nadella said. “That’s why we’re so excited to work with Intel foundry services.” He said that Microsoft’s chips will be produced using Intel’s new 18A manufacturing process, which the chipmaker said today would be available later this year. Intel says 18A will be competitive with the most advanced offerings from its leading rivals, Taiwan’s TSMC and South Korea’s Samsung.
Gelsinger said that the 18A process was the result of two years of intense work that yielded advances that might normally take a decade. He said that Intel’s goal is to become the world’s second placed foundry by 2030. TSMC is currently the world leader.
Intel’s foundry move is aimed at tapping the recent generative AI boom to revitalize a company that in recent decades has slipped from its place at the pinnacle of the tech industry over the past few decades. Intel failed to anticipate the importance of mobile computing a decade ago, and also lost its manufacturing edge by choosing not to adopt the most advanced lithography techniques used to carve out silicon chips.
Read the full article here
