News Intel confirms $3 billion award for Secure Enclave: 18A chips coming to U.S. military

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Eximo

Eximo

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Well, they didn't exactly say what the chips would be for. The mentioned programs are demonstrations to prove they can source commercial grade advanced semiconductors domestically, no particular product in mind.

Likely to be something more like cryptographic or other custom SoC for government and military administrative uses rather then some field equipment.
 
thestryker

thestryker

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This is mostly just building on top of what Intel has already been doing. The public splash is of course a cross between political for the government and investors for Intel.

I have no idea why Gelsinger's letter hasn't been covered on Tom's but this seems like an appropriate topic to post it in:

coverage:
www.servethehome.com

Intel Creating Foundry Subsidiary and Announcing a Big AWS Win

In a huge letter to employees, Intel outlined a number of moves including an Intel Foundry subsidiary, a big AWS win, and more
www.servethehome.com www.servethehome.com

letter itself:
https://www.intc.com/news-events/pr...age-from-intel-ceo-pat-gelsinger-to-employees
 
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kjfatl

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nightbird321 said:
Hand out, life line
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They are literally the best that the US has today, better than anyone other than TSMC and Samsung A couple of decades ago we were the best in the world. I don't see any valid reason not to invest in US design and manufacturing of goods used by the US military and the US government. Intel is not the only US fab which the DOD is investing in. In another article today, Amazon is targeting Intel's A18 process. The way things are going we may soon see the fabs as "Intel's Crown Jewels" again acting as the profit center which feeds the rest of the company. Give it 5 years.
 
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sjkpublic

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Was there a bidding process? Have to go along with other posts: lifeline, bribery, etc. I hope these chips dont have the Intel ME. I hope the US military is using something else for nukes.
 
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sjkpublic

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You hit the nail on the head. Its a 'monopoly'. And Intel seems to have sacrificed innovation over profit. Would it not be great if the $3B was used on another US company with a better future vision?
 
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sjkpublic

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thestryker said:
What bidding process would there be? By that I mean what other fabs within the confines of the United States (which is a requirement) can match Intel's current manufacturing nodes?

Samsung and TSMC both have the potential but neither one has an advanced fab up and running within the US yet.
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Dare I say it, IBM fabs.
 
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rluker5

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sjkpublic said:
You hit the nail on the head. Its a 'monopoly'. And Intel seems to have sacrificed innovation over profit. Would it not be great if the $3B was used on another US company with a better future vision?
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I think it is more accurate to say Intel has sacrificed profit in the name of innovation.
 
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kjfatl

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rluker5 said:
I think it is more accurate to say Intel has sacrificed profit in the name of innovation.
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Intel sacrificed innovation in for the sake of short-term profit. This worked for nearly 10 years. While Intel slept and many of it's process engineers "were retired" TSMC and Samsung, as well as many others refined their processes. Intel is now digging itself out of the hole it dug. It's a huge hole and the process of digging out is taking nearly 10 years. If Intel can't succeed, TSMC will have a monopoly with Samsung being their junior partner. There are other US players that are doing well, but they are in adjacent businesses. TI is one of them.
 
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jg.millirem

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And thus Intel transitions to being a key dependant and lackey of the US military-intelligence empire. AMD here on out for me.
 
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nightbird321

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Those saying only Intel has fabs in USA are clearly ignoring TSMC's fabs already built and ready for volume production 2025. Who knows how far behind Intels 18A fabs are... can't trust their claims anymore.
 
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rluker5

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kjfatl said:
Intel sacrificed innovation in for the sake of short-term profit. This worked for nearly 10 years. While Intel slept and many of it's process engineers "were retired" TSMC and Samsung, as well as many others refined their processes. Intel is now digging itself out of the hole it dug. It's a huge hole and the process of digging out is taking nearly 10 years. If Intel can't succeed, TSMC will have a monopoly with Samsung being their junior partner. There are other US players that are doing well, but they are in adjacent businesses. TI is one of them.
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You are correct as far as the foundry part from the 2010s, I was talking about recent history.

And TI is less capable than GF of providing chips for the western world should things go south with the US #1 adversary. Maybe you haven't noticed how close Samsung also is to them. I doubt they would want very close neighbors to supply necessary military supplies to their foes.

I'm just talking about US military interests here in regards to why they might have a reason to choose Intel for their components.
 
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