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Intel cancels A20 node, A18 with low yields, Arrow Lake will mostly use TSMC or Samsung

winjer

Gold Member

Intel has announced the cancellation of its 20A node for Foundry customers, as well as shifting majority of Arrow Lake production to external foundries. The tech giant will instead focus its resources on the more advanced 18A node while relying on external partners for Arrow Lake production, likely tapping TSMC or Samsung for their 2 nm nodes. The decision follows Intel's successful release of the 18A Process Design Kit (PDK) 1.0 in July, which garnered positive feedback from the ecosystem, according to the company. Intel reports that the 18A node is already operational, booting operating systems and yielding well, keeping the company on track for a 2025 launch. This early success has enabled Intel to reallocate engineering resources from 20A to 18A sooner than anticipated. As a result, the "Arrow Lake processor family will be built primarily using external partners and packaged by Intel Foundry".

The 20A node, while now cancelled for Arrow Lake, has played a crucial role in Intel's journey towards 18A. It served as a testbed for new techniques, materials, and transistor architectures essential for advancing Moore's Law. The 20A node successfully integrated both RibbonFET gate-all-around transistor architecture and PowerVia backside power delivery for the first time, providing valuable insights that directly informed the development of 18A. Intel's decision to focus on 18A is also driven by economic factors. With the current 18A defect density already at D0 <0.40, the company sees an opportunity to optimize its engineering investments by transitioning now. However, challenges remain, as evidenced by recent reports of Broadcom's disappointment in the 18A node. Despite these hurdles, Intel remains optimistic about the future of its foundry services and the potential of its advanced manufacturing processes. The coming months will be crucial as the company works to demonstrate the capabilities of its 18A node and secure more partners for its foundry business.


According to a recent Reuters report, Intel's 18A node doesn't seem to be production-ready. As the sources indicate, Broadcom has been reportedly testing Intel's 18A node on its internal company designs, which include an extensive range of products from AI accelerators to networking switches. However, as Broadcom received the initial production run from Intel, the 18A node seems to be in a worse state than initially expected. After testing the wafers and powering them on, Broadcom reportedly concluded that the 18A process is not yet ready for high-volume production. With Broadcom's comments reflecting high-volume production, it signals that the 18A node is not producing a decent yield that would satisfy external customers.

While this is not a good sign of Intel's Fundry contract business development, it shows that the node is presumably in a good state in terms of power/performance. Intel's CEO Pat Gelsinger confirmed that 18A is now at 0.4 d0 defect density, and it is now a "healthy process." However, alternatives exist at TSMC, which proves to be a very challenging competitor to take on, as its N7 and N5 nodes had a defect density of 0.33 during development and 0.1 defect density during high-volume production. This leads to better yields and lower costs for the contracting party, resulting in higher profits. Ultimately, it is up to Intel to improve its production process further to satisfy customers. Gelsinger wants to see Intel Foundry as "manufacturing ready" by the end of the year, and we can see the first designs in 2025 reach volume production. There are still a few more months to improve the node, and we expect to see changes implemented by the end of the year.


On a positive note, if Arrow Lake is using TSMC for it's production, then power usage will be much lower, and probably there won't be issues with degradation of Intel CPUs.
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius







On a positive note, if Arrow Lake is using TSMC for it's production, then power usage will be much lower, and probably there won't be issues with degradation of Intel CPUs.
The bad news just do not stop for their foundries?

This feels like the chapter in Chip Wars where they had to pivot away from DRAM manufacturing…

It is not ideal that the WORLD computing industry relies only on two companies more or less: ASML and TSMC. Yikes 😧.
 

winjer

Gold Member
The bad news just do not stop for their foundries?

This feels like the chapter in Chip Wars where they had to pivot away from DRAM manufacturing…

It is not ideal that the WORLD computing industry relies only on two companies more or less: ASML and TSMC. Yikes 😧.

Our best hope is that Intel manages to get their 18A process node with decent yields by 2025, and that they open their foundries to more companies.
That would mean more competition against TSMC and Samsung and more revenue for Intel.
 

peish

Member
The bad news just do not stop for their foundries?

This feels like the chapter in Chip Wars where they had to pivot away from DRAM manufacturing…

It is not ideal that the WORLD computing industry relies only on two companies more or less: ASML and TSMC. Yikes 😧.

Isnt it like one company, either ASML or TSMC.
ASML provides the machines and TSMC uses the machines
 

TheAssist

Member
Isnt it like one company, either ASML or TSMC.
ASML provides the machines and TSMC uses the machines

But then dont forget that ASML and TSMC dont build everything they use themselves. For example the mirrors/glasses used in the ASML machines come from Zeiss in Germany which is the only company to produce these things in the quality needed for these machines and there is probably more examples like this. So really its a bunch of middle sized to huge companies and if any one of them falls out of the race....well that would be bad.
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
Our best hope is that Intel manages to get their 18A process node with decent yields by 2025, and that they open their foundries to more companies.
That would mean more competition against TSMC and Samsung and more revenue for Intel.
Hope so too although Intel and nVIDIA deserved a smacking and their competitors to get as much win as possible in this period.

So soooo much is riding on 18A for Intel internally and them as a foundry which I do not think they are trusted as being impartial and safe to use as TSMC (their defect rate is still worse than TSMC at a similar stage too, but sure it is a more advanced node).

Hopefully we have some groundbreaking new paradigm in computing that allows older and less advanced nodes to be useful as this is a nasty race getting worse by the year…
 

winjer

Gold Member
Hope so too although Intel and nVIDIA deserved a smacking and their competitors to get as much win as possible in this period.

So soooo much is riding on 18A for Intel internally and them as a foundry which I do not think they are trusted as being impartial and safe to use as TSMC (their defect rate is still worse than TSMC at a similar stage too, but sure it is a more advanced node).

Hopefully we have some groundbreaking new paradigm in computing that allows older and less advanced nodes to be useful as this is a nasty race getting worse by the year…

The main reason why TSMC became the world leader in chip manufacturing is because they always took smaller steps, with fewer risks.
This meant they didn't advance as fast in one generation as other companies, but it also meant they rarely ran into major production issues.
So generation after generation, TSMC kept on delivering successful nodes, until they surpassed everyone.
This was a case where slow and steady wins the race.

Nvidia is already getting probed by the DOJ, so it's likely they will be taken down a peg or two.
They will continue to be the world leader in AI, just not with such a huge margin.

Intel doesn't need anyone to smack them, they are doing a great job by themselves.
the simpsons rake GIF
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
The main reason why TSMC became the world leader in chip manufacturing is because they always took smaller steps, with fewer risks.
This meant they didn't advance as fast in one generation as other companies, but it also meant they rarely ran into major production issues.
So generation after generation, TSMC kept on delivering successful nodes, until they surpassed everyone.
This was a case where slow and steady wins the race.
So so well put :). I think them being and staying neutral, not competing with any chip designer and being very good at compartmentalising was as a well executed strategy as anything else they have done.
 

winjer

Gold Member
So so well put :). I think them being and staying neutral, not competing with any chip designer and being very good at compartmentalising was as a well executed strategy as anything else they have done.

They weren't that neutral.
Remember that their main partner through the last decade has been Apple. This is one of the other reasons for their success.
Apple injected a lot of money into TSMC, to get the best nodes earlier than anyone else.
 

winjer

Gold Member
Intel are dirt in my book after they refused to take responsibility for the 13th and 14th Gen chip failures.

And it just got much worse, with RMAs now taking over one month to be satisfied.


Intel's high-performance Core i9-13900K and 14900K processors are experiencing stock shortages, resulting in extended wait times for customers needing replacements for faulty units. According to a Reddit post citing Intel's customer support, users may need to wait several weeks—potentially up to four weeks—due to limited availability. Intel's customer service acknowledged inventory issues, with users being informed that replacement processors may take longer than usual to ship.


aLZ8e93.jpeg
 

Bernoulli

M2 slut
But then dont forget that ASML and TSMC dont build everything they use themselves. For example the mirrors/glasses used in the ASML machines come from Zeiss in Germany which is the only company to produce these things in the quality needed for these machines and there is probably more examples like this. So really its a bunch of middle sized to huge companies and if any one of them falls out of the race....well that would be bad.
it's not about quality, More about restrictions and controlling who can produce what, any country can make them
 

Chiggs

Gold Member
Man Intel is fucked......

Hope they can recover. We need competition.

Don't worry. The ARMada is coming. Just needs another a year and a half.

And it just got much worse, with RMAs now taking over one month to be satisfied.


And it keeps on getting worse.

 
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Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
They weren't that neutral.
Remember that their main partner through the last decade has been Apple. This is one of the other reasons for their success.
Apple injected a lot of money into TSMC, to get the best nodes earlier than anyone else.
That is still very neutral. Someone paid a LOT for the capacity and they got an exclusive.

As an Apple competitor I am not worried about design leaks or unfair advantage given to Apple. If you were to throw bags of money at them they would sell you capacity they have available to.

Any foundry in any business allows some to spend extra to get more.
 
The bad news just do not stop for their foundries?

This feels like the chapter in Chip Wars where they had to pivot away from DRAM manufacturing…

It is not ideal that the WORLD computing industry relies only on two companies more or less: ASML and TSMC. Yikes 😧.

Could governments around the world not force TSMC to split into different companies?

Once they get their US and EU based fabs up and running producing volumes on the bleeding edge nodes, I can totally see that.
 
And it just got much worse, with RMAs now taking over one month to be satisfied.





aLZ8e93.jpeg

They waited years for Intel to actually begin competing with Zen, what’s another few weeks?
 

sankt-Antonio

:^)--?-<
Didn't Germany give Intel 10billion for a factory in Germany? Damn it to hell... Guess that isn't happening anytime soon?
 

marquimvfs

Member
Our best hope is that Intel manages to get their 18A process node with decent yields by 2025, and that they open their foundries to more companies.
I think that they will sell those foundries before the 18A become mature enough. They cannot spend the necessary to nurture the process right now. I can can be wrong, but I can see Intel being a client from Intel foundries in the next fiscal year.
 

winjer

Gold Member
I think that they will sell those foundries before the 18A become mature enough. They cannot spend the necessary to nurture the process right now. I can can be wrong, but I can see Intel being a client from Intel foundries in the next fiscal year.

Intel's foundry business is in such bad shape, that even Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are recommending Intel so split up.
 

Mahavastu

Member
Could governments around the world not force TSMC to split into different companies?
The American Goverment owns certain patents regarding EUV, so they could force ASML not to ship any EUV machines to TSMC again, a step which would make it impossible for TSMC to compete in the long run. Such they have a lot of power over TSMC and could probably enforce a split.
For example the US used this power to cut off Huawei from the high end TSMC chip supply a few years back and forbid ASML to ship EUV machines to China.

Anyway, such a step regarding TSMC would not really be welcomed in other parts of the world, like the US still trying to enforce its will on others. And the US has currently reputation problems as it is.

Once they get their US and EU based fabs up and running producing volumes on the bleeding edge nodes, I can totally see that.
Yeah, but TSMC would probably keep the engineers which made TSMC the world leader, such the fabs would be most likely out of date a few years after that step.
 
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Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
Intel's foundry business is in such bad shape, that even Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are recommending Intel so split up.
That could be quite bad for Intel as a company shock. For way too long their foundries and silicon teams were working very very very very closely and it was their strength as a CPU maker and why AMD was so stubbornly trying to compete with Intel on that side as well…

Again… yikes…
 
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Bashtee

Member
Didn't Germany give Intel 10billion for a factory in Germany? Damn it to hell... Guess that isn't happening anytime soon?
It's not like they get the money upfront. But I don't think Intel will leave the money on the table to finance a new fab, that's like 1/3 of the cost to literally print more money. They are more likely to cut some other parts.
 

winjer

Gold Member
AMD didn't fare to well this time around either. Feels like they are both hitting a wall.

That is where you are wrong.
Zen5 is a minor step in performance for the consumer market, but it has huge gains for the server, AI and workstation markets.
For gamers, Zen5 is almost pointless. But for enterprises, it's a huge deal, with performance increasing by 30% in many cases. And lower power usage.
And mind you, gamers are used to paying hundreds for a CPU, but enterprises are used to paying thousands.
 
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Chiggs

Gold Member
AMD didn't fare to well this time around either. Feels like they are both hitting a wall.

Get Low Duck GIF by Tennis TV


"Exclusive: Qualcomm has explored buying pieces of Intel chip design business"


That would be interesting. They bought AMD's mobile Graphics division back in the day after all.


Don't shoot the messenger, but the death of X86 is at hand.
 
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StereoVsn

Gold Member







On a positive note, if Arrow Lake is using TSMC for its production, then power usage will be much lower, and probably there won't be issues with degradation of Intel CPUs.
That whole C suite and the board need to get booted. What a fucking disaster.
 
The American Goverment owns certain patents regarding EUV, so they could force ASML not to ship any EUV machines to TSMC again, a step which would make it impossible for TSMC to compete in the long run. Such they have a lot of power over TSMC and could probably enforce a split.
For example the US used this power to cut off Huawei from the high end TSMC chip supply a few years back and forbid ASML to ship EUV machines to China.

Anyway, such a step regarding TSMC would not really be welcomed in other parts of the world, like the US still trying to enforce its will on others. And the US has currently reputation problems as it is.

I disagree that it would negatively affect the US's reputation. TSMC has a monopoly and so forcing a split to increase competition is in the interest of every country, not just the US. I feel like the US and EU together would jointly back the action.

Yeah, but TSMC would probably keep the engineers which made TSMC the world leader, such the fabs would be most likely out of date a few years after that step.

I don't think the engineers are the issue. It's the intellectual property TSMC owns that has kept Intel, Global Foundries and other smaller fabs from being able to compete at the bleeding edge with EUV.
 
Our best hope is that Intel manages to get their 18A process node with decent yields by 2025, and that they open their foundries to more companies.
That would mean more competition against TSMC and Samsung and more revenue for Intel.

Agreed. TSMC certainly needs the competition.
 

Mahavastu

Member
I disagree that it would negatively affect the US's reputation. TSMC has a monopoly and so forcing a split to increase competition is in the interest of every country, not just the US. I feel like the US and EU together would jointly back the action.
I agree that it is frightening that TSMC is so strong that currently nobody (ok, maybe Samsung somewhat) can compete. And TSMC is using that to ask for insane prices for their top nodes, making it difficult for other industries (eg. Consoles)

Anyway, what I meant was that the Americans are using their power when they are not able to compete instead of doing what is necessary to compete on its own. That is not good for the reputation outside the US.
Not that long ago Intel was nearly unbeatable in terms of high end high, volume chip manufacturing, with AMD not that far behind. Today AMD gave up manufacturing completely and Intel seem to be unable to get their technology stable at the same level as TSMC.

I don't think the engineers are the issue. It's the intellectual property TSMC owns that has kept Intel, Global Foundries and other smaller fabs from being able to compete at the bleeding edge with EUV.
TSMC will make sure that in case of a split their top elite staff will come back to Taiwan, everything else would be stupid. This means that the taiwanese TSMC would continue to innovate and stay on top, while the american and european fabs will probably stagnate after a few years. And just like with Intel falling behind, those fabs will too falling behind the taiwanese fabs.
 
I agree that it is frightening that TSMC is so strong that currently nobody (ok, maybe Samsung somewhat) can compete. And TSMC is using that to ask for insane prices for their top nodes, making it difficult for other industries (eg. Consoles)

Anyway, what I meant was that the Americans are using their power when they are not able to compete instead of doing what is necessary to compete on its own. That is not good for the reputation outside the US.
Not that long ago Intel was nearly unbeatable in terms of high end high, volume chip manufacturing, with AMD not that far behind. Today AMD gave up manufacturing completely and Intel seem to be unable to get their technology stable at the same level as TSMC.

The historical Intel vs AMD situation is not the same as the current TSMC monopoly.

Also, nobody can currently compete with TSMC, because at bleeding edge the physics are such that there are very very very limited ways to do the same thing in a different way. So once TSMC solved the pellicule problem with EUV and grabbed all the patents, the writing was on the wall for everyone else.

Again, I don't it will be a US-only thing. I think it will be an international initiative including US and EU and the rest of Eurasia to break up the TSMC monopoly.

TSMC will make sure that in case of a split their top elite staff will come back to Taiwan, everything else would be stupid. This means that the taiwanese TSMC would continue to innovate and stay on top, while the american and european fabs will probably stagnate after a few years. And just like with Intel falling behind, those fabs will too falling behind the taiwanese fabs.

Again, you're making the wrong assumption that the differentiator is the TSMC top engineers. It's not. It's the IP patents. TSMC got their first on solving the EUV pellicule problem and without recourse for competitors to do EUV without licensing TSMC's IP, they were all left in the dust scrambling to find some other way to solve the same problem.
 

winjer

Gold Member
Again, you're making the wrong assumption that the differentiator is the TSMC top engineers. It's not. It's the IP patents. TSMC got their first on solving the EUV pellicule problem and without recourse for competitors to do EUV without licensing TSMC's IP, they were all left in the dust scrambling to find some other way to solve the same problem.

The adoption of EUV was one of the few times that TSMC took a big gamble. And it paid off.
Intel at the time also had access to EUV, but decided to pass on it, because self-aligned quad-patterning with standard deep ultraviolet was cheaper.
But as soon as TSMC solved the teething issues with EUV, the balance quickly changed. And EUV became the cheaper option with better yields.
Then Intel hit a wall with their 10nm node, which saw a ton of delays. So they had to resort to 14++++++
 

Celcius

°Temp. member
What does this mean for Arrow Lake in terms of heat and performance?
It still won't be on the same node as raptor lake right?
 

marquimvfs

Member
What does this mean for Arrow Lake in terms of heat and performance?
It still won't be on the same node as raptor lake right?
The ones that Intel will produce themselves will be the same node as Raptor Lake. But some SKUs are being manufactured by TSMC. It's not clear yet what's the division.
 

GoldenEye98

posts news as their odd job
Isnt it like one company, either ASML or TSMC.
ASML provides the machines and TSMC uses the machines

Yeah TSMC is a fab. ASML builds the lithography machines they use.

If anything it's probably more like TSMC and Samsung as lone main chip fabs
 

Bernoulli

M2 slut
If it was that easy, china would make everything themselves and do it at the same quality that TSMC does it right now.
They can't do it because all the instructions and patents are restricted
You give that to any one and they would build it
China is now catching up by starting from scratch and they are doing good but it will take years for more advanced nodes
 

TheAssist

Member
They can't do it because all the instructions and patents are restricted
You give that to any one and they would build it
China is now catching up by starting from scratch and they are doing good but it will take years for more advanced nodes
Obviously, if you tell someone how to do it, they know how to do it. But since no one told them, they dont know how to do it. Hence, they cant do it.
 

marquimvfs

Member
Intel's foundry business is in such bad shape, that even Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are recommending Intel so split up.
Intel foundries are now a separate subsidiary.
To build on our progress, we plan to establish Intel Foundry as an independent subsidiary inside of Intel. This governance structure will complete the process we initiated earlier this year when we separated the P&L and financial reporting for Intel Foundry and Intel Products.
Source: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/newsroom/news/foundry-momentum-progress-plan.html#gs.fakuiy
 

winjer

Gold Member

Intel's ambitious 18A node is grappling with two significant hurdles as it approaches production: yield rates languishing below 10 percent and a critical SRAM density disadvantage compared to TSMC's competing N2 process. These challenges could impede the node's deployment across Intel's next-generation CPU, AI, and custom chip portfolios.
Recent reports indicate that Intel is facing significant yield challenges with its 18A node, potentially delaying its mass production timeline. According to the South Korean newspaper Chosun, current yield rates are below 10 percent, meaning that nearly nine out of every 10 chips manufactured are defective.
This is a major issue, particularly as Intel has already canceled its 20A (2nm class) process node for Foundry customers and shifted resources to the 18A (1.8nm class) node. If the sub-10 percent yield rate proves accurate, it could render the node unsuitable for commercial production, at least until significant improvements are made.

Frustrated World Cup GIF
 
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