The Hot Take: Nice, we need a strong intel for domestic manufacturing.
Intel says manufacturing costs for its 18A process have fallen approximately 40 per cent since the first quarter, offering some relief for its battered foundry ambitions.
According to New Electronics, Intel chief financial officer Dave Zinsner said Intel 3 costs fell about 15 per cent over the same period.
Chipzilla has spent years explaining what its manufacturing technology will eventually accomplish. Producing chips more cheaply provides a welcome interruption to the presentations.
The company reported double-digit improvements in 18AâŚ
Current AI chips face a transmission bottleneck where theyâre pushing 200Gbps per lane, so even the slightest interference can affect performance. Possibly realizing that there needs to be a better way to maintain optimal server throughput, NVIDIA is reportedly looking at an unlikely material to tackle one of AI hardwareâs biggest headaches: PTFE, better known by the brand name Teflon and as the coating on non-stick pans. PTFE wastes far less energy, making it suitable for achieving NVIDIAâs goals, but material complexity makes it difficult toâŚ
The Hot Take: Intel roaring back to a manufacturing powerhouse.
Intel is accelerating work on its long-delayed US semiconductor manufacturing projects, with equipment installation underway at its Fab 62 facility in Arizona and construction progressing at its Ohio site. The developments come as stronger demand for AI data center processors supports the chipmaker's efforts to expand capacity and strengthen its foundry business.
The Hot Take: Well when they take over TSMC yeah, no doubt.
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan believes that China is not significantly behind the US when it comes to chip manufacturing prowess. The CEO made the remarks in an interview with Nikkei Asia, where he also discussed Intel's restructuring efforts and attempts to establish a foundry business that is on par with Taiwan's TSMC, which is the world's largest contract chip manufacturer. Intel CEO Tan Asserts Foundry Business Can Become A Growth Driver But Stresses Patience To Do It Right China's relationship with the US when it comes to chip manufacturingâŚ
The Hot Take: ASML monopoly, China is coming for you!
At the 26th China International Industry Fair in Shanghai, Langdao Silex, a Chinese technology startup, revealed its self-developed EUV light source prototype called the âFlintNano LPP-OXXO.â Being a core component of EUV lithography, the company states that it has secured most core components through independent R&D, with a localization rate of approximately 90%. Hearing this development could signal that China is ready to call it quits on ASML, but hereâs why we wouldnât jump to conclusions. Mass production isnât expected for the nextâŚ
Intel is currently in the process of shedding its notoriously labyrinthine bureaucratic layers and the attendant inertia, while eyeing new markets and product categories for its fledgling advanced fabrication nodes, with the scorching-hot ASIC market serving as one such high-probability gambit on the part of the chipmaker's new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan. As evidence, look no further than Intel's hiring of Dean Jarnac, a former Marvell executive, who has likely been tasked with furthering just such a goal, according to the tech analyst, Jack Gold. Lip-BuâŚ
The Hot Take: Feeling the heat from Intel? USA companies perfected this manufacturing before you, can't take the heat get out of the kitchen!
The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's (TSMC) next-generation 1.4-nanometer production could kick off in April, suggests a new report in the Taiwanese press. TSMC's 1.4-nanometer process technology, also called the 14A manufacturing node, will succeed the firm's 2-nanometer technology. According to the details, TSMC's 1.4-nanometer facility in Taichung could enter trial production in April 2027, with mass production expected in the second half of the year. TSMC Submits Application To Build Two Temporary Offices At TaichungâŚ
The fates appear to have turned benevolent towards Intel, especially as its multi-year strategic pivots are now finally on the cusp of paying financial dividends, as evidenced by the chipmaker's rapidly expanding EMIB-T capacity as well as its hefty lead against Samsung and TSMC on high-NA EUV technology. UBS now believes Intel can easily meet MediaTek's growing TPU-related demand for EMIB-T advanced packaging, replete with the ability to package over 2 million substrates by 2028 According to UBS, the wider industry is becoming increasinglyâŚ
The Hot Take: Intel is making headway fast to get back to the top of the manufacturers for sure.
Intel announced on Monday that it had processed more than one million 300-mm wafers using its High-NA EUV scanners, less than two and a half years after its first tool was assembled. For now, the company intends to use industry-standard 6-inch photomasks, which can expose 26Ă16.5 mm half-fields and therefore require field stitching for larger chips. However, Intel is also working on larger 6Ă12-inch photomasks that would enable High-NA EUV scanners to expose full 26Ă33 mm fields without stitching.One million High-NA wafersIntel's one millionâŚ
The Hot Take: Very good news, ratchet up that heat in competition for TSMC & Samsung.
Intel is a bundle of positive tailwinds these days, especially in relation to its next-gen 14A chip fabrication process, as evidenced by an increasing likelihood of a firming order book for the process, and a defect density curve that is running ahead of the comparable trajectory for the current-gen 18A node. If Intel's 14A process simply follows the defect density curve trajectory of the current-gen 18A process from here onward, the chipmaker's next-gen process will likely be ready for its commercial debut by Q2 2028 For the benefit of thoseâŚ