Friday, November 22nd 2024
Intel Could Manufacture Apple's Next-Generation A20 SoC for iPhone
Apple is reportedly considering diversifying its chip manufacturing strategy with a new silicon manufacturer: Intel. While the upcoming iPhone 17 series, expected next year, will likely feature A19 chips produced by TSMC, a recent rumor from Chinese leaker Fixed Focus Digital hints at a potential switch to Intel for the A20 chipsets powering the 2026 iPhone 18 series. The A18 and A18 Pro chipsets debuted alongside the iPhone 16 series in September 2024, manufactured using TSMC's N3E node. Apple's A19 chips are expected to upgrade to TSMC's N3P node. According to the source, Apple is seeking an Intel 20A node. However, since the A20 node is canceled in favor of 18A, Apple could be an Intel Foundry customer for either 18A or 14A nodes.
Despite the buzz, skepticism persists. Intel has historically struggled with process node transitions and even outsourced production of its Arrow Lake CPUs to TSMC, raising questions about its readiness to deliver on Apple's demands. On the other hand, alternative reports suggest Apple might stick with TSMC's yet-unnamed 2 nm node for the A20, maintaining continuity in its supply chain. As the iPhone 18 series remains two years away, much can change. For now, we are left speculating whether this rumored collaboration with Intel represents a new chapter in Apple's chipset innovation or just a rumor with little substance. If the US government mandates more domestic production, chip designers could be looking at some of the more local manufacturing options, like Intel does on US soil. That could force Apple, NVIDIA, AMD, and Qualcomm to look into Intel's offerings.
Sources:
Fixed Focus Digital, via Notebookcheck
Despite the buzz, skepticism persists. Intel has historically struggled with process node transitions and even outsourced production of its Arrow Lake CPUs to TSMC, raising questions about its readiness to deliver on Apple's demands. On the other hand, alternative reports suggest Apple might stick with TSMC's yet-unnamed 2 nm node for the A20, maintaining continuity in its supply chain. As the iPhone 18 series remains two years away, much can change. For now, we are left speculating whether this rumored collaboration with Intel represents a new chapter in Apple's chipset innovation or just a rumor with little substance. If the US government mandates more domestic production, chip designers could be looking at some of the more local manufacturing options, like Intel does on US soil. That could force Apple, NVIDIA, AMD, and Qualcomm to look into Intel's offerings.
40 Comments on Intel Could Manufacture Apple's Next-Generation A20 SoC for iPhone
The first TSMC Arizona fab is there, N4 and should start production first half next year. Second fab is 2-3 years after that, on N3 and N2. Third more advanced fab is planned but later.
Intel has Intel 4 in production. Whether they have or if/when will have 18A ready is debatable (18A should be more of a match for N2 rather than N3).
Edit:
The problem with transistor density comparisons is that you need to look at what variation of the process is being mentioned. Intel should still largely have one main variation that is tuned for performance - frequencies mostly. TSMC has 2-3 variations, high performance and high density being the canonical ones. Rule of thumb - when looking at the declared TSMC density numbers, 2/3rds of that is what a high performance variation gets (by some accounts even less with latest nodes).
This is of course simplified. Intel is starting to offer options. TSMC has more than 2 variants and offers a certain amount of mix and match these days even on the same die. Etc. but for general comparison, Intel's processes should be compared to TSMC ones using HP libraries.Disputable. To dissect some of these MTr/mm^2 numbers more:
Intel has given 123.4 number for 4, yes. For Intel 3 they said 10% more density, so 135-136.
TSMC N5 HP reportedly gets somewhere between 90-95. Not sure if that is accurate but Wikichip estimated N3E HP density to 124 which would put Intel 4 and Intel 3 squarely against TSMC N3 group.
For the future TSMC has not claimed very high improvements for N2 over N3. Neither has Intel as you mentioned for 18A over 3. It does seem that Intel 18A will go head to head with TSMC N2. The question isn't about the size/density or performance of the node - the question is if and when Intel will be able to manufacture on given process with sufficient yields.
Edit2:
From a year ago but not much has changed since then:
fuse.wikichip.org/news/7375/tsmc-n3-and-challenges-ahead/
But it could also be just for diversification, since China hasn't been too friendly with Tawain. But then, they do have that new plant in Arizona. Having that as an option could potentially depend on when US TSMC will be allowed to manufacture 2nm chips.