3 ms·
Reading the development story and just how long they worked on this, with would-be competitors falling by the wayside the whole time, I'm less surprised than I
by wffurr 5y ago
Reading the development story and just how long they worked on this, with would-be competitors falling by the wayside the whole time, I'm less surprised than I was that Intel missed the boat on this technology. Intel, and apparently almost everyone else other than TSMC, were skeptical this would work.
But now that it does, Intel has some catch-up to do to build fabs using these things to match what TSMC is doing with them.
- ballenf 5y agoThe article mentions Intel is slated to get the first next-gen EUV device ("high-NA EUV"). I wonder how much lead time this buys them from when TSMC gets theirs? Presumably would just be a month or two at most, unless Intel is getting more than just the first. If they can produce 55 of the current generation per year, the next generation would be produced at some order of magnitude slower at first.
- ksec 5y agoYou dont buy a few and expect them to work on latest nodes unless you want capacity constrained launch cycle. So it is likely the whole order for that year would go to Intel if they do intend to use it on their 4nm. TSMC has settled on older generation anyway. Their "slightly" delayed 3nm isn't on GAAFET / Nanowire / Ribbonfet or MBCFET. whatever term they decide to use. ( It is getting worse then their "nm" naming ) and not on High-NA EUV either which is scheduled for their 2nm. Sometime in 2025. So the lead time may be around a year and a bit more. And I keep mentioning this everywhere, on HN or Semiwiki and other places. TSMC is a (very) conservative company. Betting on something exotic and not quite ready isn't their thing.