Three years ago, shortly after Pat Gelsinger became CEO of Intel, he established the Intel Foundry Services (IFS) business unit, and then Intel foundry developed rapidly.
In a fairly short period of time, the expected deal value of Intel foundry has increased from $4 billion to $10 billion, and now to $15 billion, and I'm happy with that. "Kissinger was confident at the recent Intel Foundry Direct Connect," he saidOur goal now is for Intel Foundry to become the world's second-largest foundry by 2030.
A little calculation will tell you,In 2030, the expected transaction value of Intel foundry will be as high as $100 billion.
The competition in the chip foundry market is very exciting, and there are strong TSMC and Samsung in the field of advanced processes, can Intel really make this extremely challenging goal a reality?
We are a system-level company that is transforming into a fab, not the other way around. I think our model is unique in the foundry industry. Intel Foundry Senior Vice President Stu Pann said bluntly.
This uniqueness can only be called an advantage if it is recognized by the customer. Microsoft, Intel's long-time partner, is a strong supporter of Intel foundry.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella saidOne of the chips designed by Microsoft is planned to be produced using the Intel 18A process node.
Even more convincingly,ARM, which competes with Intel, also stands for Intel's foundry.
Arm CEO Rene Haas quipped that the combination of Intel foundry and ARM is a bit strange, like when Walter Mosberg (a well-known American technology columnist) and Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple) saw iTunes running on Windows.
Intel's technology is industry-leading, transformative, and Arm needs to be a part of it. Rene Haas agreed.
In order to serve customers well, chip foundries need to solve not only the problem of equipment, materials or IP, but also a system problem. Therefore, the success of Intel foundry will definitely be the prosperity of Intel's foundry ecosystem.
This is also a must-have for Intel Foundry Direct Connect, which must be attended by ecosystem partners such as Synopsys, Cadence, Siemens, and AnsysAlmost all of the IP and EDA partners are CEO-level figures in attendance, which is a very positive sign for Intel foundry.
The ultimate success or failure of Intel's foundry also depends on Intel's execution and attitude towards customers.
The information wall and the new roadmap give customers two reassurances
Intel foundry services appeared for the first time in 2021 and upgraded to Intel IDM2 in 20220 strategy, in 2023, Intel announced that the profit and loss of the manufacturing department will be accounted for separately, and Intel's product business units will be able to independently choose to cooperate with third-party foundries.
Intel Foundry has evolved over the past three years, with the new Intel Foundry brand in February 2024.
Intel Foundry is not only a new brand, but also a new organizational structureIntegrating technology, manufacturing, ** chain and foundry services, it is a foundry that serves both internal and external customers. Craig Org, vice president of foundry marketing at Intel, explains.
For all potential customers of Intel foundry, security, that is, ensuring the "information wall" between Intel foundry and Intel products, is the primary concern.
Kissinger was clear,".There is a clear line between Intel (external) foundry and Intel (internal) product teams. This year, we're starting to release independent financial data for Intel Foundry. Intel Foundry's goal is to have our semiconductor fabs fully loaded and deliver to the widest range of customers in the world. Microsoft is already an Intel foundry customer, and we want to be able to serve Nvidia, Qualcomm, Google, and even AMD. ”
Keyvan Esfarjani, Intel's chief global operating officer, pointed out that Intel's operating model is changing dramatically, no longer producing Intel-made products in a hybrid operating model, but will have an Intel foundry operating model, and Intel's product division is the same as other external customers.
"Intel products and Intel foundry have two separate sales teams, and we're building two separate enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Gelsinger manages our staff meetings as two separate staff meetings, with Intel foundry reporting directly to the CEO, which is Intel IDM2One of the pillars of the 0 Transformation Strategy. Employees of Intel foundry and Intel products do not cross-communicate and have very strict confidentiality agreements at the individual level. We remain vigilant, and the 'information wall' has been strictly enforced, and the results have been quite remarkable so far. ”
Drawing a clear line between Intel foundry and Intel product teams is only a reassuring pill for potential customers, and for foundry cooperation, which requires a long-term and huge amount of money, a roadmap is also needed to reassure you, which is also a prerequisite for participating in the foundry market competition.
Before talking about the roadmap for the next few years,Kissinger first confirmed that his roadmap of "five process nodes in four years" is still progressing steadilyIt will be the first in the industry to provide a backside power supply solution.
This is a very important piece of information that proves Intel's ability to execute, and it is the key to Intel's return to process leadership.
Intel expects to regain process leadership by 2025 with the Intel 18A process node.
However, TSMC said in response to analysts' questions about the leading position of Intel 18A at the 2023 Q4 legal conference that when Intel 18A is mass-produced in 2025, TSMC N3P, which is equivalent to Intel 18A, has been mass-produced for three years.
The feedback we got was that the performance per watt at the Intel 18A process node was great. As Rene Hass, CEO of ARM, said in his speech, "Our customers have been telling us,"They believe Intel 18A is a leading technology. We believe what they say. Craig Orr told Leifeng.com.
The new process roadmap after Intel 18A includes evolved versions of Intel 3, Intel 18A, and Intel 14A technologies, such as Intel 3-T, which is optimized for 3D advanced packaging designs with through-silicon via technology and will soon be production-ready.
Intel's new process roadmap will have different evolutionary versions of nodesSome nodes will have an extended feature (E-version), such as Intel 3-E, which is a more application-specific upgrade. Some nodes add 3D stacked through-silicon via optimization (version T), such as Intel 3-T. There are also some nodes that have a performance boost (P-version), such as Intel 18 A-P, which has a performance improvement of about 10% compared to the original version.
We're going to have a new, big node release every two years, and then there's an evolution every year or soThe R&D effort for the evolved version is smaller than that of large nodes. Incremental evolution and big changes happen at the same time, and when we add them up, the costs are relatively manageable. Craig Orr explained.
Leifeng.com learned,Intel's large process nodes have at least a 20% performance improvementFor example, from Intel7 to Intel4. The evolution version of a node will have at least a 5% improvement in power consumption or performance, such as the P or E version of a node.
AI system-level foundry, a unique advantage
Trust is the foundation of long-term cooperation, and it also requires unique advantages to achieve cooperation. System-level foundry is Intel's exclusive ability.
The so-called system-level foundry is not only the services of other foundry nodes and packaging, but also system-level services such as substrates, heat dissipation, storage, interconnection, and networking.
Intel is exploring full-stack systems that can improve performance by 2x or more by changing the way they connect, while using the same technologyThis is the key to the future. "To achieve an exponential increase in computing power to match the increase in workload, every layer of the system must be optimized, including storage, networking, and software." It includes how to place storage, storage, bandwidth, networking, etc., and how to map it to higher-level software, chip architecture, and system architecture to match the way software and data are moved. ”
Intel's unique advantages as a system-on-scale company transforming into a chip foundry are much more.
Intel has a wealth of systems expertise in-house, and we are leveraging our strengths in the system-on-a-chip space to provide that expertise to our customers. Stu Pann saidWe compete with our competitors through system-level foundry, and first of all, as a foundry, we have to have competitive PPACs, i.e., performance, power, area, and cost, without which everything else doesn't matter. The feedback from our partners is that we do have the competitiveness of PPAC. In addition, Intel foundry also has packaging capabilities, which we have been doing for a long time and also has differentiating advantages. ”
Intel has announced the addition of FCBGA 2D+ to Intel's Intel Foundry ASAT technology portfolio, which will include FCBGA 2D, FCBGA 2D+, EMIB, FoverOS, and FoverOS Direct technologies.
Now that we understand Intel's system-level foundry, let's talk about AI system-level foundry.
The system is the most important part that helps customers optimize the entire solution to make the best AI system. "AI is just a good example of how the same system capabilities can be used in other applications." For now,AI is probably the most important issue, which is why we emphasize AI. Intel's system-level foundry is well positioned to help customers succeed in the AI space. ”
The computing power required to train an AI on a large language model doubles every 10 months. As AI becomes more advanced, the computing power required will only grow faster. This also means that AI chips must iterate at a faster rate to meet the needs of the generative AI era.
For companies whose strength is not to design chips, Intel's AI system-level foundry has a unique appeal, such as Microsoft.
Microsoft and Arm are both recognized, and Intel foundry has two major markets: AI and ARM
"We're in the midst of a very exciting platform shift that will fundamentally change the productivity of every business and the industry as a whole," said Microsoft Satya Nadella. To achieve this vision, we need reliable** advanced, high-performance and high-quality semiconductors. That's why Microsoft is excited about partnering with Intel foundry to produce a chip we designed using the Intel 18A process node. ”
Microsoft is a typical software company, like Microsoft, there are more and more software and AI companies that want to design AI chips, for these companies, the most important purpose of self-designed chips is to enhance the competitiveness of their main business, ideally to design the most suitable chip at the lowest cost, Intel's system-level foundry can lower the threshold for these companies to design chips.
Kissinger also said, ".We want to take on some chip design business, which is of great significance, because many customers will let us help with chip design before committing to us to place an order for larger production capacityThese chip design businesses, which are relatively small in contract amounts, will bring greater foundry business commitments. ”
Intel's products will also become a reference for Intel's foundry customers. For example, the Intel Xeon team used EMIB and hybrid bonding (FoverOS Direct) technology to solve the heating problem in the Clearwater Forest, and if a customer wants to use this technology, Intel will provide customized products and services to the customer.
In the process of developing Intel's foundry business, driven by large-scale AI chips, advanced packaging has become a path for us to quickly enter the competition. We are working with various companies in the industry, many of which have already signed up. Intel's unique strength in advanced packaging is now a huge booster for our entire foundry business. Kissinger said.
The growth of AI chips is the future of Intel foundry, of courseDue to the huge number of shipments, ARM chips are also a customer group that Intel foundries must strive for.
Intel has launched for thisThe Emerging Business Initiative, which will be in partnership with ARMProviding advanced foundry services for ARM-based system-on-chips (SoCs), supporting start-ups in the development of ARM-based technologies, and providing the necessary IP, manufacturing support, and financial assistance provide significant opportunities for ARM and Intel to foster innovation and growth.
Currently,Intel foundry has a large number of customer design cases across all generations of process nodes, including Intel 18A, Intel 16, and Intel 3, as well as Intel Foundry ASAT, including advanced packaging. In the wafer fabrication and advanced packaging space, Intel foundry has an expected lifetime deal value of more than $15 billion.
It should be noted thatEven in 2030, most of Intel's foundry's wafer capacity will still be used for Intel's products.
We can use Intel's own large amount of revenue and productsThe commitment to drive quality for Intel 18A and Intel 14A and the next process nodes will mitigate the risk of production for all subsequent customers. "Panther Lake and Clearwater Forest are already planning to use Intel 18A, which will account for a significant portion of Intel's client and server revenue in the future, and I've made a commitment to that." ”
For Intel foundry customers, access to advanced packaging, high-quality wafers, and preferential products means a resilient, sustainable, and trustworthy chain.
Intel foundries and customers can achieve a win-win situation.
The success of Intel foundry must be the prosperity of the ecosystem
Intel foundry pursues a win-win situation, that is, win-win cooperation with the entire ecosystem, because manufacturing is an ecosystem.
The ecosystem includes IP (intellectual property) and EDA (Electronic Design Automation) partners Synopsys, Cadence, Siemens, Ansys, Lorentz and Keysight, as well as leading vendors of materials, equipment, packaging and testing.
The good news is,Intel foundry's IP and EDA partners say the tools and IP are readyIt enables foundry customers to accelerate advanced chip designs based on the industry's first back-side power supply solution for Intel's 18A process node. And its EDA and IP have been enabled on Intel's process nodes.
For Intel EMIB 25D packaging technology, several leading companies also announced plans to cooperate in the development of assembly technology and design processes. These EDA solutions will enable Intel to develop and deliver advanced packaging solutions to customers faster.
Intel has a wealth of experience in manufacturing, and now expanding its collaboration with ecosystem partners in the manufacturing space under its new strategy is good news for all partners.
Intel fully cooperates with other foundries on the extremely competitive mature process nodesA new 12nm node, jointly developed with UMC, was announced in January this year. Continuously improve the competitiveness of Intel foundry.
Only by continuously prospering the ecosystem and maintaining the leading edge of technology can Intel achieve the goal of the world's second largest foundry by 2030.
Sustainability is also key. At Intel Foundry Direct Connect, Intel reaffirmed its commitment to 100% renewable electricity, water efficiency and zero waste to landfill by 2030. In addition, Intel reaffirmed its commitment to achieve net-zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2040 and net-zero upstream Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.