4 ms·

They'll stumble through Intel 6 and later Intel 5.5 for a couple of years before hitting that mark at the rate things are going.

BearOso 3y ago
At this rate, SMIC with its ex-TSMC employees and stolen IP is going to surpass them pretty quickly. That's unfortunate, as we could really use a leading-edge fab that is separate from the volatile political relations in East Asia.
- astrodust 3y ago
  Both Intel and TSMC are committed to building fabs, though they are building in Arizona, a state not exactly known for its abundance of fresh water. You'd think West Virginia would pull out all the stops to make something like this happen. They have the space, the water...
  - paulmd 3y ago
    power quality is a factor counting against snowier regions. like there was an intel plant manager on here at one point who commented that they regularly traced individual spikes/surges to specific trees taking grid zones down etc. e: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28683036 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28683036 Columbus is an interesting choice for intel given that it does experience some winter. Personally I'd say something like WV does seem like a pretty good choice especially if you could get hydro power, it's very very stable especially if you could get a dedicated circuit to the dam with a dedicated turbine or two following your power needs. Age-old tradition for large projects, hydro is a very controllable stable bulk power source. On the downside, big winter snowstorms/etc, mountain weather is intense etc and tbh any blasting might be problematic at these scales. geological stability is already a concern for fab quality, actual mining ops in the area might be problematic. (I wonder if fracking in some areas would be problematic as well. this could easily be a "bolted into bedrock" type thing. well, bedrock may have some thumping in the midwest too.) They really optimize for total disaster rate overall, modulo tax breaks and operating costs etc. Winter is a big downside, arizona doesn't have weather other than "hot" afaik. water can be "solved". just take it from farmers.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
signatoremo 3y ago
They were struggling with Intel 10 (14nm). That led to the change in the leadership. Are they struggling with Intel 7, 4? Or future Intel 3, 20A, 18A?
- astrodust 3y ago
  All they know lately is struggle.

BearOso 3y ago

At this rate, SMIC with its ex-TSMC employees and stolen IP is going to surpass them pretty quickly. That's unfortunate, as we could really use a leading-edge fab that is separate from the volatile political relations in East Asia.

astrodust 3y ago
Both Intel and TSMC are committed to building fabs, though they are building in Arizona, a state not exactly known for its abundance of fresh water. You'd think West Virginia would pull out all the stops to make something like this happen. They have the space, the water...
- paulmd 3y ago
  power quality is a factor counting against snowier regions. like there was an intel plant manager on here at one point who commented that they regularly traced individual spikes/surges to specific trees taking grid zones down etc. e: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28683036 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28683036 Columbus is an interesting choice for intel given that it does experience some winter. Personally I'd say something like WV does seem like a pretty good choice especially if you could get hydro power, it's very very stable especially if you could get a dedicated circuit to the dam with a dedicated turbine or two following your power needs. Age-old tradition for large projects, hydro is a very controllable stable bulk power source. On the downside, big winter snowstorms/etc, mountain weather is intense etc and tbh any blasting might be problematic at these scales. geological stability is already a concern for fab quality, actual mining ops in the area might be problematic. (I wonder if fracking in some areas would be problematic as well. this could easily be a "bolted into bedrock" type thing. well, bedrock may have some thumping in the midwest too.) They really optimize for total disaster rate overall, modulo tax breaks and operating costs etc. Winter is a big downside, arizona doesn't have weather other than "hot" afaik. water can be "solved". just take it from farmers.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]

signatoremo 3y ago

They were struggling with Intel 10 (14nm). That led to the change in the leadership. Are they struggling with Intel 7, 4? Or future Intel 3, 20A, 18A?

astrodust 3y ago
All they know lately is struggle.