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Foundry service seems like a good idea. 14nm may be a bit long in the tooth for modern phones, laptops, servers but it would be a cutting edge process for most

Foundry service seems like a good idea. 14nm may be a bit long in the tooth for modern phones, laptops, servers but it would be a cutting edge process for most embedded products. Intel built more 14nm capacity than usual because of the 10nm problems. As they finally move to 10nm and 7nm EUV processes, it makes sense to try to sell their 14nm fab space/time to anyone who wants it.

varispeed 6y ago
Or maybe they could pivot and work on foundry equipment that small businesses could setup in their garage? I think it should be a good time to start democratising the chip production and so far there is probably no company who can provide tools in this segment affordable for small and medium businesses.
- Macha 6y ago
  First of all there are serious economies of scale to chip processing, especially at these low scale, that I think it's unlikely a SME could compete in this space. Secondly chipmaking is not always the most environmentally friendly process, at least on a local level (Intel[2], AMD[1] have superfund sites at former plants, they aren't the only one), so I'm not sure people should want someone running one "from their garage" [1]: https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.Cleanup&id=0901389#bkground https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fus... [2]: https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.Cleanup&id=0901482#bkground https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fus...
- axlee 6y ago
  Economies of scale work against that model. Unless for hyper-specialized chips, and even, there is no way low-volume companies can compete against the industry behemoths.
  - varispeed 6y ago
    I am not thinking about printing pentium at 7nm in your garage, but something like 130nm? What are the technical blockers?
    - AareyBaba 6y ago
      A frequently posted reference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGFhc8R_uO4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGFhc8R_uO4
- bredren 6y ago
  Not sure why this was downvoted. 3D printing is at a really neat early platform stage right now. Cool scene, lots of innovation. I can see chip level “3d printing” or rather custom local chip fabrication as a waypoint toward the natural conclusion of all this: molecule-level synthesis Neil Stephenson wrote about in Diamond Age.
  - trynumber9 6y ago
    I suspect because none of that has much to do with how Intel operates. They do not even make the machines they use in these processes. So it would be one hell of a pivot. Companies like Nikon and ASML, who make lithography machines and so on, are not really interesting in the garage fab space but that has nothing to do with Intel.
    - bredren 6y ago
      Intel’s announcement already represents a major pivot. But regardless, most threads on HN allow for tangents to explore ideas. Even if the root fork from the topic appears unfounded.

varispeed 6y ago

Or maybe they could pivot and work on foundry equipment that small businesses could setup in their garage? I think it should be a good time to start democratising the chip production and so far there is probably no company who can provide tools in this segment affordable for small and medium businesses.

Macha 6y ago
First of all there are serious economies of scale to chip processing, especially at these low scale, that I think it's unlikely a SME could compete in this space. Secondly chipmaking is not always the most environmentally friendly process, at least on a local level (Intel[2], AMD[1] have superfund sites at former plants, they aren't the only one), so I'm not sure people should want someone running one "from their garage" [1]: https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.Cleanup&id=0901389#bkground https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fus... [2]: https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.Cleanup&id=0901482#bkground https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fus...
axlee 6y ago
Economies of scale work against that model. Unless for hyper-specialized chips, and even, there is no way low-volume companies can compete against the industry behemoths.
- varispeed 6y ago
  I am not thinking about printing pentium at 7nm in your garage, but something like 130nm? What are the technical blockers?
  - AareyBaba 6y ago
    A frequently posted reference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGFhc8R_uO4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGFhc8R_uO4
bredren 6y ago
Not sure why this was downvoted. 3D printing is at a really neat early platform stage right now. Cool scene, lots of innovation. I can see chip level “3d printing” or rather custom local chip fabrication as a waypoint toward the natural conclusion of all this: molecule-level synthesis Neil Stephenson wrote about in Diamond Age.
- trynumber9 6y ago
  I suspect because none of that has much to do with how Intel operates. They do not even make the machines they use in these processes. So it would be one hell of a pivot. Companies like Nikon and ASML, who make lithography machines and so on, are not really interesting in the garage fab space but that has nothing to do with Intel.
  - bredren 6y ago
    Intel’s announcement already represents a major pivot. But regardless, most threads on HN allow for tangents to explore ideas. Even if the root fork from the topic appears unfounded.