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From my passing birdie, Intel will still be doing TSMC 5nm, but chose to announce the far in the future 3nm first because it "sounds big," and make it look as i

From my passing birdie, Intel will still be doing TSMC 5nm, but chose to announce the far in the future 3nm first because it "sounds big," and make it look as if they are ahead of AMD to Wall street people. I haven't heard anything certain of AMD, but they are guaranteed to do very aggressive TSMC roadmap following, being fully aware that cutting edge node capacity is bought years in advance, and that Intel wanted it for the last ~3 years. They probably simply don't have things set in stone for so far in the future.

belval 5y ago
It's not to impress wall street, so much as they can hijack TSMC production and constrain AMD's volume.
- adventured 5y ago
  Exactly. Intel's profits are still running near all-time record highs (which is 12x that of AMD). They can trivially constrain AMD by taking away their access to fabrication, buy as much of it out as possible. If nothing else it'll buy them more time to try to dig out of their mess.
  - andy_ppp 5y ago
    Surely that would be anti competitive in the extreme? I'm surprised TSMC are just taking the money now... I'd be really surprised if Intel don't learn a load of tricks as the drill into getting silicon onto a different fab provider - both about their own processes and the underlying details of the technology.
    - zsmi 5y ago
      > Surely that would be anti competitive in the extreme? Now prove it. TSMC accepts paying customers. Intel is a paying customer too. Haven't we spent years bemoning how Intel is behind TSMC? It seems natural Intel would take advantage of TSMC's expertise if they are ahead. And Intel probably is happy to use TSMC. Two rabbits with one shot. Even if you could prove it, where do you plan to file the complaint?
  - samus 5y ago
    It is in TSMCs own interest to not burn their existing customers because Intel still has their own fabs and can drop TSMC the moment they catch up. Rebuilding business relationships with clients takes time, and they are also not really without options: Samsung is very much also a key player in the market after all.

belval 5y ago

It's not to impress wall street, so much as they can hijack TSMC production and constrain AMD's volume.

adventured 5y ago
Exactly. Intel's profits are still running near all-time record highs (which is 12x that of AMD). They can trivially constrain AMD by taking away their access to fabrication, buy as much of it out as possible. If nothing else it'll buy them more time to try to dig out of their mess.
- andy_ppp 5y ago
  Surely that would be anti competitive in the extreme? I'm surprised TSMC are just taking the money now... I'd be really surprised if Intel don't learn a load of tricks as the drill into getting silicon onto a different fab provider - both about their own processes and the underlying details of the technology.
  - zsmi 5y ago
    > Surely that would be anti competitive in the extreme? Now prove it. TSMC accepts paying customers. Intel is a paying customer too. Haven't we spent years bemoning how Intel is behind TSMC? It seems natural Intel would take advantage of TSMC's expertise if they are ahead. And Intel probably is happy to use TSMC. Two rabbits with one shot. Even if you could prove it, where do you plan to file the complaint?
- samus 5y ago
  It is in TSMCs own interest to not burn their existing customers because Intel still has their own fabs and can drop TSMC the moment they catch up. Rebuilding business relationships with clients takes time, and they are also not really without options: Samsung is very much also a key player in the market after all.