News Intel’s turnaround plan hinges on this one chip family – Clearwater Forest pictured, Intel’s first 18A chip slated for high-volume manufacturing.

[Admin]

Intel displays its first processor slated for high volume manufacturing with the company's 18A node, a node that CEO Pat Gelsinger has said he bet the company on it.

Intel’s turnaround plan hinges on this one chip family – Clearwater Forest pictured, Intel’s first 18A chip slated for high-volume manufacturing. : Read more

 

[vanadiel007]

I don't think any of this is going to matter.

 

[dalek1234]

I don't think any of this is going to matter.

That's my bet, too. The only question is how exactly will Intel implode in a few years? I mean, someone is going to buy Intel once its dirt cheap, for their x86 license, but who will be the new x86 owner?

 

[passivecool]

Every empire falls eventually.
I'm a long disappointed Intel fan, but I hope they corner-pocket this, truly.

 

[Gururu]

Aside from TSMC 1.6nm in 2026, who is going to manufacture the 18A (1.8nm) chips? Is this limited to the spin-off foundry? If production lands on solid ground, this will bode well for U.S. tech.

 

[Eximo]

Supply and Demand at the moment. Doesn't matter if other silicon is more power efficient, cheaper, or generally better. There just isn't enough out there for all these SaaS, Cloud, and AI infrastructure being built. If Intel can launch viable products, people will buy them if they can get them at volume on time.

I don't think Intel Design or Intel Foundries will go under. IFS may split off, but that still leaves Intel with some nodes for making mobile/desktop chips, network, etc. People always concentrate on compute, but they make a lot of stuff compared to AMD. Nvidia has branched out quite a bit in recent times on that front. AMD not so much.

TSMCs older nodes are also beneficial and could be a really good stop gap for Intel, AMD, and Nvidia. Remember when all GPUs were stuck on TSMC 40nm and 28nm for several generations? We could see more of that coming as AI takes over the next gen fabs relegating consumer hardware to optimized versions of what we have now.

 

[ottonis]

Didn't Broadcom recently complain about how disappointing they found first test drive productions of their chips on Intel's 18A process?

 

[redgarl]

Good old Intel trying to GASLIGHT everyone with desperation within PowerPoint presentations.

Intel is at a moment that they cannot justify their operating margins. They need the necessary revenue to justify their work force, but they can't. Their monopoly days are over and they are not agile due to the shear size of the company.

To add to the irony, they are challenging TSMC which is probably the dumbest move from them I have seen since their 5G modem endeavor against QCOM.

The company valuation is making them vulnerable for a takeover and I don't foresee anyone being able to avoid the giant from collapsing in the end. This will be a painful and slow fall.

 

[joeer77]

5 nodes in 5 years doesn't count if you outsource one node (20A) to TSMC.

 

[bit_user]

OMG, that headline image looks so janky. I know the dies must be precisely positioned, but the ones at either end that are shifted alternately up and down from the ones next to them + the discoloration elsewhere make it look like a mockup, rather than an actual engineering sample.

 

[bit_user]

5 nodes in 5 years doesn't count if you outsource one node (20A) to TSMC.

Intel 4 is also virtually non-existent. It's only used for the CPU tiles on Meteor Lake and isn't very profitable due to poor yields.

 

[Eximo]

OMG, that headline image looks so janky. I know the dies must be precisely positioned, but the ones at either end that are shifted alternately up and down from the ones next to them + the discoloration elsewhere make it look like a mockup, rather than an actual engineering sample.

That is odd now that you mention it. Almost looks like they had to add a bit at the last minute. Or maybe it was a distance/timing related design.

 

[valthuer]

In the good old days, MetalMessiah would already be making several corrections to this article. 🤣

Am i the only one who kinda misses that guy?

 

[Amdlova]

@valthuer I think Metal messiah got a shadowban miss the guy
One because metal is the law and two the guy is the wikipidiachip BFG 3k

 

[t3t4]

Some of the comments I've read about Intel make me laugh, not just here, but everywhere! I guess when every media outlet keeps banging the same drum relentlessly, the more impressionable among us just cannot ignore the beat.

Intel was here long before most of the kids that are writing some of these "influential" stories, and they will be here long after! Intel ain't going anywhere folks! They are not too big to fail, but they are too important to let fail. As long as they never do another processor "refresh" ever again, me and Intel will get along just fine! I'm still rockin a 13900k and it still works good as new. But then I never let mine run with unlimited current draw. Doing so is just ridiculous, and I knew better.

I am very much looking forward to whatever new Intel chip can really actually beat a 13900k. I ain't getting out of bed for 5% 10% gains. But I'll open my wallet for 20% or better!

 

[bit_user]

I'm still rockin a 13900k and it still works good as new. But then I never let mine run with unlimited current draw. Doing so is just ridiculous, and I knew better.

The chips can even fail at stock settings. That, alone, won't protect you - it's more to do with how they're used. You should make sure to update your BIOS, if you haven't done so already.

 

[t3t4]

The chips can even fail at stock settings. That, alone, won't protect you - it's more to do with how they're used. You should make sure to update your BIOS, if you haven't done so already.

Of coarse my system is up to date.

But I never ran OEM or recommended settings from anyone.... They were all smokin crack from the top down! Nobody will ever convince me that a chip running so hot that it can literally boil water, is a safe operating temperature. So I never let mine get that hot. I tuned my system by temperate, not by any other metric. Dumping more power into these chips do not make them run any faster, it just makes them hotter! From day one I lowered the thermal limit on this chip and set my power limit @ 220w if memory serves. I have always run well below the 253w recommended by Intel.

But since the new BIOS/micro code update, I am currently running @ 253w and temps are better now then ever before. And the chip still ain't no faster or slower then it ever was. It just just runs cooler now with more power. I don't have any overclocks to speak of in my system, that PC is all about maximum stability for video editing/rendering.

 

[valthuer]

I'm still rockin a 13900k and it still works good as new.

I am very much looking forward to whatever new Intel chip can really actually beat a 13900k. I ain't getting out of bed for 5% 10% gains. But I'll open my wallet for 20% or better!

Same here. I'm quite satisfied with its performance.

 

[Findecanor]

The unit Ångström still has the symbol Å.

18A is a marketing term. Don't get fooled!

 

[Eximo]

The unit Ångström still has the symbol Å.

18A is a marketing term. Don't get fooled!

Same is true of all the process nodes. It roughly equates to the smallest detail they can control, not the actual size of most of the things they make with it.

I really was hoping they would all adopt the LMC standard, but it seems they are too entrenched in lying to everyone.

 

[Amdlova]

I got here the undeclocked 14600K max voltage i see 1.26v - 1.32v turbo 2c
Only safe cores on intel right now is the T series. and Man This chip destroy everything with 35w with 92w Kick hard the 8 cores out there.

 

[strobolt]

Interesting read!

 

[rluker5]

There is more than Clearwater Forest to Intel's fortunes.
Sure a 288 Raptor cove equivalent core chip sounds great, but there is also the mainstream consumer stuff and a fair amount of stuff out of Intel's control like markets and politics.

For example: Is ARM running Windows less efficient and useless to pursue now? Has Intel caught AMD in the GPU space in an apples to apples comparison and are they now a legitimate candidate for the new Xbox? Will 1.8a come out as better or worse than TSMC's equivalent? Will there be unrest overseas or will some politician try to buy votes or ensure the supply chain for the US military? Will Taiwan see sanctions/tariffs? Will the AI boom fizzle out like a mining boom in the next couple months? There is a bunch going on right now. Much more than one server chip assembly.

But speaking of those beefed up e-cores, is there any news on how much power they draw and performance they have when the p-cores are turned off yet? The combined numbers look good, but that is including two new types of cores so a comparison of a known setup like 4p,4e, no ht from a Raptor Lake CPU would be very imprecise.

 

[kinney]

Hate to break it to the haters and there are many in recent years with AMD's resurgence, but Intel isn't going anywhere. Why you may ask. Just like how General Motors was deemed too big to fail, Intel is as well. The US won't be left without the ability to make tanks and electronics. They're national security infrastructure. For Intel to fail completely, we may as well cut our own throats. We don't lose our lives if AMD and Nvidia fail, some people lose money in the market.

AMD and Nvidia are both very overvalued, because when the bombs start dropping, the reality that they're paper mills will be made clear. How does Nvidia defend the USA? Their IP can be given to Intel immediately for defensive purposes. They have pieces of paper they can present to you, and a marketing department. That's it.

Intel can actually BUILD things. Same with GM. Anyone can design a chip ultimately, and that part is increasingly done by AI. Fab commoditization is only possible with a healthy free and international market, which is a state of affairs that is increasingly disappearing. The reduction of globalization can become the end of globalization very quickly.

My money is always on companies that provide real products, rather than design and then outsourcing the product. Damn any numbers you have. This is not a normal market, and these are not normal times. I'd bet my life right now that the US government doesn't allow Intel to fail. We can't. Not to mention they don't even need to be on the most cutting edge node in the world to be relevant. Design costs for a 2nm chip is 725 million US dollars. 28nm or so is the sweet spot and everything below 10nm is exponentially expensive. I'm glad there's pressure on Intel to be competitive, that's healthy, we don't want to have to support underperforming state entities as they do in Russia and similar states. But if we had to, we would because we'll be attacked otherwise.

 

[thestryker]

OMG, that headline image looks so janky. I know the dies must be precisely positioned, but the ones at either end that are shifted alternately up and down from the ones next to them + the discoloration elsewhere make it look like a mockup, rather than an actual engineering sample.

Look at GNR/SRF delidded they're slightly off as well. I would love for an Intel engineer to explain why it is, because it absolutely looks weird but must be on purpose.

Intel 4 is also virtually non-existent. It's only used for the CPU tiles on Meteor Lake and isn't very profitable due to poor yields.

Do we actually know the yields are poor? I recall Moorehead mentioning it, but those were also assumptions based on what he'd been told. I figured it was more about getting EUV capacity available for Intel 3 than anything else. No matter what Intel 4 was always going to be a mess though being a one and done while sharing equipment with Intel 3 which is a way more important node.

Every time I need to look up something industry analysis wise I'm sad knowing AT won't be there going forward: https://www.anandtech.com/show/2149...amp-as-meteor-lake-chips-were-in-short-supply