Tuesday, January 12th 2021
Intel CEO Says Using Competitor's Semiconductor Process in Intel Fabs is an Option
Semiconductor manufacturing is not an easy feat to achieve. Especially if you are constantly chasing the smaller and smaller node. Intel knows this the best. The company has had a smooth transition from other nodes to the smaller ones until the 10 nm node came up. It has brought Intel years of additional delay and tons of cost improving the yields of a node that was seeming broken. Yesterday the company announced the new Tiger Lake-H processors for laptops that are built using the 10 nm process, however, we are questioning whatever Intel can keep up with the semiconductor industry and deliver the newest nodes on time, and with ease. During an interview with Intel's CEO Bob Swan, we can get a glimpse of Intel's plans for the future of semiconductors at the company.
In the interview, Mr. Swan has spoken about the technical side of Intel and how the company plans to utilize its Fabs. The first question everyone was wondering was about the state of 10 nm. The node is doing well as three Fabs are ramping up capacity every day, and more products are expected to arrive on that node. Mr. Swan has also talked about outsourcing chip production, to which he responded by outlining the advantage Intel has with its Fabs. He said that outsourcing is what is giving us shortages like AMD and NVIDIA experience, and Intel had much less problems. Additionally, Mr. Swan was asked about the feasibility of new node development. To that, he responded that there is a possibility that Intel could license its competitor's node and produce it in their Fabs.
Just like GlobalFoundries licensed 14 nm technology from Samsung Electronics to produce the node at GlobalFoundries facilities, the same would apply to Intel. However, that is only considered as an option for now. Intel has made a lot of development on the next-generation nodes as well, and that is not counting the current 10 nm one. The 7 nm is going to arrive shortly, and even smaller nodes are in R&D phases. Licensing a node from someone else would simply null Intel's efforts so we have to wait and see how it plays out. Simply put, Intel has no plans in dropping its Fabs as it is the company's competitive advantage and it only plans to grow.
Source:
Tom's Hardware
In the interview, Mr. Swan has spoken about the technical side of Intel and how the company plans to utilize its Fabs. The first question everyone was wondering was about the state of 10 nm. The node is doing well as three Fabs are ramping up capacity every day, and more products are expected to arrive on that node. Mr. Swan has also talked about outsourcing chip production, to which he responded by outlining the advantage Intel has with its Fabs. He said that outsourcing is what is giving us shortages like AMD and NVIDIA experience, and Intel had much less problems. Additionally, Mr. Swan was asked about the feasibility of new node development. To that, he responded that there is a possibility that Intel could license its competitor's node and produce it in their Fabs.
37 Comments on Intel CEO Says Using Competitor's Semiconductor Process in Intel Fabs is an Option
Chip, as in IC maker, not a final product.
Yes, they aren't direct competitors today, but they are still in the same kind of business, otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation in the first place.
It's not as if we're comparing Intel with a sausage maker here, is it?
No doubt Intel sits on a lot of money and they're still making a lot of money. However, if they can't move forward soon, the competition is going to overtake them (and the competition in this case would be AMD and all the ARM licensees and what not) and then what? Obviously AMD made a comeback from the brink of extinction, so nothing is impossible. I'm sure Intel still has a lot of good people working there, but something is clearly rotten inside the company or they wouldn't have been stuck at the same place for so long.
All I am saying is that since they are not directly competing, some form of knowledge sharing/selling between them would not be surprising.
When we talk about manufacturing, it is not AMD or ARM licensees that overtake them. It can only be Samsung or TSMC. If it comes to that you can bet Intel's money is as good as someone else's. With less competition in fab business I am quite certain we would not like that outcome.
I also have a feeling that a set of technical problems are excessively blamed on the management here. Sure, management can make it worse in various ways but the root problem is Intel's 10nm (and probably 7nm) manufacturing processes not being viable.
They ran out of ideas at 14nm. I can even cherrypick the timescale where they said it. It was present since 2012.
I tried telling it to other people, including editors like Joel Hruska. Nobody believed, nor showed enough patience to check out the source material.
It is the first three lectures:
m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwYzDeSMOcCwjs0D7I9V6T01QVcJ-1Dho
By risk free I mean neither TSMC or Samsung would have to expand their capacity to profit off selling more chips and the sunk cost of developing the process has already been paid.
Intel would bear the risk and cost of adapting the process to Intel foundries.
None of TSMC customers are going to manufacture their stuff at Intel, perhaps with the exception of Intel itself. Same with Samsung.
It really doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but hey...
If Intel can "spy" on their foundry competitors by doing this, resolve their problems and move forward on a competitive node, what do they need Samsung and TSMC for?
I do not think they are hoping to get much of Intel's business though. Everyone expects Intel to get their shit together with manufacturing.
Have fun with this debate. We will all know in a matter of months.
If something like this was to happen, it also has to be lucrative enough for both parties, which it might not end up being.