News Intel May Start Outsourcing Some CPU Production to TSMC in 2H 2021

[Admin]

Intel's outsourcing plans may be starting to take shape.

Intel May Start Outsourcing Some CPU Production to TSMC in 2H 2021 : Read more

 

[JarredWaltonGPU]

I have to say, this whole thing seems bunk to me -- a bit of a red herring. If Intel has working high-end process technology (like SuperFIN, and whatever the 7nm and 5nm followups are called), it should have ample manufacturing capacity. TSMC is already tapped out with Apple, AMD, Nvidia, Qualcomm, etc. parts. If Intel can't make silicon for entry level parts, then how is it going to make high-end parts? I suspect the initial talk is about Core i3 and lower end parts just to try and calm the panic, but if TSMC makes a 4-core/8-thread Core i3, and that part works well, it will probably do just as good on Core i5, i7, i9. And saying it will do Core i3 and Xeon means it would be making chips potentially at the top and bottom of Intel's CPU stack.

What will really be interesting is if TSMC makes some Intel chips that end up being better than the chips Intel fabs internally. Imagine four years from now, people trying to find "Intel made by TSMC" processors instead of "Intel made by Intel" chips. LOL

 

[Simon Brown]

What I would be interested in is the commercial implication on AMD, Apple etc. of having production capacity they might require, booked up by such a large competitor.

 

[TerryLaze]

I have to say, this whole thing seems bunk to me -- a bit of a red herring. If Intel has working high-end process technology (like SuperFIN, and whatever the 7nm and 5nm followups are called), it should have ample manufacturing capacity. TSMC is already tapped out with Apple, AMD, Nvidia, Qualcomm, etc. parts. If Intel can't make silicon for entry level parts, then how is it going to make high-end parts? I suspect the initial talk is about Core i3 and lower end parts just to try and calm the panic, but if TSMC makes a 4-core/8-thread Core i3, and that part works well, it will probably do just as good on Core i5, i7, i9. And saying it will do Core i3 and Xeon means it would be making chips potentially at the top and bottom of Intel's CPU stack.

What will really be interesting is if TSMC makes some Intel chips that end up being better than the chips Intel fabs internally. Imagine four years from now, people trying to find "Intel made by TSMC" processors instead of "Intel made by Intel" chips. LOL

Intel had the same revenue for the last three years, ever since ryzen launched it increased by 10bil and stayed there, that could be a sign of intel being at their production cap and not being able to produce more. Hence the need to build outside to meet the increased demand. That is if the demand stays increased now that things will slowly go back to normal from covid.

If they end up making i3s and xeons there they will make sure that they will perform the exact same as the ones they make in house, these are low clock CPUs so TSMC should be capable of making them.