“Intel is encountering tight 14nm process production capacity in-house, and is looking to outsource part of its 14nm chipset production to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), according to industry sources,” Monica Chen and Jessie Shen report for DigiTimes. “Intel intends to give priority to its high-margin products mainly server-use processors and chipsets amid its tight 14nm process capacity, and therefore plans to outsource the production of its entry-level H310 and several other 300 series chipsets to TSMC, the sources indicated.”
“Intel has seen its overall 14nm chip supply fall short of demand by as much as 50%, the sources said. Outsourcing has become the only and appropriate choice for Intel since the company is unlikely to build additional 14nm process capacity, the sources noted,” Chen and Shen report. “TSMC is already a contract manufacturer of Intel for SoFIA-series handset SoC chips and FPGA products, and makes Intel’s baseband chips for use in the iPhone, the sources said.”
“Market observers believe that Intel’s tight capacity for 14nm stems from its delay in advancing to 10nm,” Chen and Shen report. “Intel originally planned to enter mass production of its 10nm Cannon Lake processors in 2016, but has been pushing back the schedule.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If Intel can’t do it, TSMC can.
Just remember, what Intel calls 14 nm TSMC typically calls 10 nm.
Also, is this equivalent to the Intel 14 nm, 14+ nm (second stage/refined 14 nm), or 14++ (third stage/refined 14 nm)?
Heh 🙂 All those years of Intel delays are starting to make more and more sense.
Intel has single handily Held back the world of computing for the last 10 years.
They chose to sit on their laurels, milk old designs with minor incremental benefit in real computing power year after year with no real benefit for users.
Only now that AMD has got back into the game is Intel realising that all those years of milking have left them in a desperate situation for relevant future looking chip design and manufacturing as AMD continue to push the envelope of Moore’s law once again.