Alert for US chips manufacturer

Intel’s decision to outsource 2 nm production with TSMC is a bad sign for US chips manufacturer

In October 2021, then Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said Intel was about to embark on an incredible journey that would allow the size of his transistors to decrease at a faster than Moore’s Law. The latter, an observation of Intel’s co -founder Gordon Moore, stated that the counting of transistors within the chips folds every two years. This has been the model that guided chip designers for decades.

Gelsinger’s comment intended to show how Intel would eventually equal and then surpass the process leaders, TSMC and Samsung Foundry. Intel’s process 18a node should start high volume production later this year. This node is considered under-2nm, which would allow Intel to say that it has exceeded TSMC and Samsung Foundry in the leadership of us in the sector.

However, a report published today by Taiwan Economic Daily is worrying for Intel, as the latter is causing TSMC to build its new Lake CPU using the Taiwan’s 2 nm process node. The report notes that Intel plans that TSMC produces the CPU using its first generation N2 node. Considering that the new Intel executives made it clear that they want to deliver the best to customers, what is Intel saying about their 18th node is migrating to the production of TSMC 2 Nm to build the component? Originally, Intel claimed that its 18th production was better than that of TSMC’s 2 nm node, but its actions speak louder than its words.

In all, Intel will adopt a dual-source strategy that will use TSMC factories to build its main chips. The internal Intel Foundry Service (IFS) would be used to produce non -main chips. AMD recently announced that it was the first TSMC client to make a 2 nm production request for its 6th generation EPYC processors. TSMC will use the 2 Nm process node to build A20 and A20 Pro application processors from Apple for the iPhone 18 line of 2026.

Intel will use its 18a node for Socs Panther Lake and Clearwater Forest Xeon. This is a big sign for Intel, as it means that it does not simply plan to abandon its nodes from internal process, even if they are not used on top -of -the -line silicon chips.

This is not exactly what Gelsinger had in mind when he hinted that Intel was aggressively investing against TSMC and Samsung Foundry and would surpass them until 2025. But Gelsinger resigned after a difficult year, in which the company lost $ 18.8 billion (including shortcrodes). The market asks if Intel will be able to compete with TSMC in the contract chip manufacturing sector.

All Intel can do right now is sweep 2024 and 2025 under the rug and start all over again next year.

Originally published by Phone Arena on April 23, 2025

POR ALAN FRIEDMAN