Tuesday, January 12th 2021
Intel Xe-HPG to be Built on TSMC N7: Report
Intel's first discrete gaming graphics card based on the Xe-HPG graphics architecture, will be built on a TSMC 7 nanometer silicon fabrication node, according to a Reuters report citing sources "familiar with the matter." The first such discrete GPU is being referred to internally by Intel as the DG2. Recent reports suggest that Intel will give the DG2 formidable specs, such as 4,096 unified shaders across 512 execution units, and 8 GB of GDDR6 video memory. Back in 2020, the company launched the DG1 under the Intel Iris Xe MAX marketing name, targeting only the mobile discrete GPU market. The DG1 has entry-level specs, with which Intel is eyeing the same pie as NVIDIA's fast-moving GeForce MX series mobile GPUs. Interestingly, the other major client of TSMC-N7 following Apple's transition to N5, is Intel's rival AMD.
Source:
Reuters
15 Comments on Intel Xe-HPG to be Built on TSMC N7: Report
Using Tsmc is unlikely to end up with us in a place where more GPU hit the market and pricing dips.
@Vya Domus surely even knowing the design principles used to successfully make Tsmc 7nm chip's can't hurt Intel's present attempts.
There are process insights to be found in how elements are formed even if you didn't know exactly how Tsmc form those elements procedurally.
They give N7 tech to intel in 2022, by that time TSMC will be on N3(?).
This way intel will not have a broken 7nm tech like they had on 10nm.
Imagine intel trying to fix their own 7nm for the next 5+ years...
Without a new fab they can't print more money and new fabs are quite expensive.
This way TSMC will get easy money without a new fab and with a tech that is no longer competitive... with their N3 or newer tech.
Intel will be happy with a working 7nm tech and we know they have the money to spend. :)
The only reason would be $$$$$$.
:)
It’s intel trying to decrease the volume of its competitors products and delay them further by using up TSMC capacity.
And if Intel can produce 7nm at much cheaper price than TSMC, other OEM might reconsider their expensive 3-5nm deals with TSMC (like Nvidia going with Samsung 8N).
Overall TSMC has nothing but risk working with Intel, or perhaps Intel made an offer TSMC can't refuse :laugh: .