Kunpeng Project
Intel kills crazy:1The 8nm process is realized, and the chips of "competitors" will also be foundry.
We all know that in the past, the semiconductor industry basically adopted the IDM method, and one company was responsible for the development of the entire product, just like Intel.
However, in the later stage, due to the continuous improvement of the industry's subdivision and process, the entire semiconductor industry has begun to develop in the three directions of design, production and packaging and testing.
Companies like Nvidia, AMD, and Apple do not rely on their own production, but focus on the manufacture of integrated circuits. As for production, it was handed over to TSMC and GF, as well as other packaging and testing companies.
The advantage of this is that there is no need to spend billions to build a new assembly line, which saves a lot of money. Foundry** vendors, on the other hand, do not need to maintain their own R&D teams and can focus on improving the performance of chips.
But Intel is a special case, it uses IDM technology, in the past two years, Intel has been far behind TSMC and Samsung in process technology, known as the "toothpaste king".
Obviously, Intel was not satisfied, so Pattern Kissinger, after he became CEO, launched the "IDM2."0 mode", that is, Intel is no longer satisfied with just making a chip by itself, but wants to cooperate with TSMC, Samsung and other companies.
If you want to compete with Samsung and TSMC, you must speed up the process, not blindly pursue the 14 nm, 10 nm, and 7 nm processes, but enter 3 nm at the fastest speed.
In 2021, Intel announced that Intel 7, Intel 4, Intel 3, 20 A, and 18 A, within four years, all five chips will be developed.
In other words, by 2024, Intel20 and Intel18, that is, 2 nanometers and 18nm process. At that time, many people felt that Feng Yu was joking, and it was impossible to do it.
However, on February 22, at Intel's Intel Direct Connect conference, we saw that Intel was in earnest this time, and it was really crazy.
1. Intel 18 A process (1.)8 nm) chips have been successfully mass-produced, 14 A process 1The 4 nm process far exceeds TSMC and Samsung.
If all goes well, Intel's 20 A and 18 A processes will definitely be left behind by TSMC and Samsung, as they both say, at least until 2025.
2. Intel and Microsoft signed a 18 nm process and signed an agreement with Arm to provide a new product to Arm.
Intel's x86 and arm, which were originally rivals, in the mobile phone market and the PC market, both companies are rivals, but now, they have reached a reconciliation and help each other, isn't it interesting?
Even Arm's executives jokingly said it was like "playing iTunes with Windows." ”
As for Intel's Intel18a process, whether it can be put into production on time is a very important thing for TSMC and Samsung, because with the Intel brand, they can get more orders.