Tuesday, November 12th 2024
Intel Reportedly Ramps "Arrow Lake" Orders at TSMC Amid Internal Foundry Struggles
According to Taiwanese media Commercial Times, Intel is significantly increasing its outsourcing of "Arrow Lake" CPU production to TSMC, a strategic move as it grapples with persistent issues in its own foundry division. This decision to outsource a substantial portion of Arrow Lake's production is a significant shift in Intel's strategy, showing the company's rising reliance on external partners to meet quality and performance demands. The Arrow Lake Core Ultra 200 series is Intel's first major outsourcing initiative, in which Intel gave its core IP to third-party foundries, more specifically for a 3 nm node at TSMC. However, it clearly indicates the performance gaps in Intel's own Intel Foundry and the high demand expectations for the new CPUs. Originally intended to use Intel 20A node, Intel shifted focus of 18A node for its products and upcoming foundry customers.
Intel's recent orders with TSMC extend to its upcoming Lunar Lake chips and next-generation Falcon Shores AI GPUs, both of which will use TSMC's 3 nm process. Although Intel's 18A node remains promising, the company relies on current products to sustain its revenue streams, making TSMC's support crucial in ensuring timely shipments. This increased outsourcing reflects Intel's need to maintain competitive performance in the short term. Once its Foundry division meets performance and capacity targets, Intel aims to bring more CPU manufacturing back in-house. However, if anything goes wrong, Intel could face challenges securing sufficient volume from TSMC, as the foundry has longstanding commitments with major clients like Apple, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and AMD.
Source:
Commercial TImes
Intel's recent orders with TSMC extend to its upcoming Lunar Lake chips and next-generation Falcon Shores AI GPUs, both of which will use TSMC's 3 nm process. Although Intel's 18A node remains promising, the company relies on current products to sustain its revenue streams, making TSMC's support crucial in ensuring timely shipments. This increased outsourcing reflects Intel's need to maintain competitive performance in the short term. Once its Foundry division meets performance and capacity targets, Intel aims to bring more CPU manufacturing back in-house. However, if anything goes wrong, Intel could face challenges securing sufficient volume from TSMC, as the foundry has longstanding commitments with major clients like Apple, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and AMD.
25 Comments on Intel Reportedly Ramps "Arrow Lake" Orders at TSMC Amid Internal Foundry Struggles
Article on this Commercial Times as well as all broadcasters show only anti-logic fantasies and lack of any understanding reality.
It engineers worse products with a more advanced node than its competitor (3nm vs 4nm) and basically can't manufacture anything on 18A yet, so it has to outsource to TSMC.
Let's see how Patty saves this sinking ship.
There's always trouble.
Totally unacceptable Yield Rates of chips ( possibly well-well below 30% ). There is also another problem: Intel is Unable to solve management problems and it affects all the rest units ( first of all fabs ).
I'm guessing demand is coming from intel partners because they know the average person buying a pc doesn't care about cutting edge gaming and the brand recognition is still strong.