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Intel isn't out of the fab business, just behind. Being behind is much less relevant economically than some people think, especially in this seller's market. I
by yyyk 5y ago
Intel isn't out of the fab business, just behind.
Being behind is much less relevant economically than some people think, especially in this seller's market.
It's not like 14nm processors will magically stop working, you just pay more TDP for performance. If one day the US decides Taiwan is not worth it, it would just pay a bit more until Intel catches up (which will happen eventually).
- amelius 5y agoThe problem is that Intel is already more than 2 technology nodes behind. Catching up could be exponentially expensive, especially if all orders are now going to Taiwan.
- yyyk 5y agoIntel 10mm is approximately like TSMC 7mm (different measurements but similar transistor density). So I'd say 1.5 nodes behind? AMD and TSMC used to be behind like that, and eventually they caught up. Intel has the resources, and given shortages, they have a bit of time too.
- amelius 5y ago> So I'd say 1.5 nodes behind? A node corresponds to a factor of .7 in size, see [1]. > AMD and TSMC used to be behind like that Yes, but as a technology evolves it's getting harder to catch up. [1] https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/technology_node https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/technology_node
- samus 5y agoSince 20nm, a node step does not necessarily have anything to do with sizes and is purely a marketing term. Even if there are size shrinks, they are hardly comparable if a switch to another technology (FinFET -> GAAT) is involved as well.
- mensetmanusman 5y agoEUV is the unknown here. It helps skip a lot of density doubling steps, so we might see a quick catch-up.