Intel: The first 18A processors are running in the lab
The 18A production process should break Intel's losing streak. Panther Lake and Clearwater Forest are already functional.
A wafer with CPU tiles for the Meteor Lake mobile processors (Core Ultra 100), produced using Intel 4 technology.
(Image: c't)
Intel is betting its future on the next chip production generation 18A, which should be able to produce even finer structures with GAA transistors (Gate All Around) and new technology for chip power supply (Backside Power Delivery, Power Vias). Company boss Pat Gelsinger repeatedly emphasizes that 18A is set to become the best production process in 2025, even ahead of the offerings from global market leader TSMC.
Intel now wants to boost confidence with a status report: The first two products with 18A technology have already been exposed and are running in the company's own labs: Panther Lake and Clearwater Forest. Panther Lake follows Arrow Lake and should appear as the Core Ultra 300 – Rumors suggest that these processors will appear exclusively for notebooks. Clearwater Forest is the successor to the 288-E core Sierra Forest for data centers. Series production of the processors is set to begin in 2025.
Booting test systems
Intel emphasizes in a statement that test systems boot and run operating systems with both processor types. Less than half a year is said to have passed between the so-called tape-out and the current ramp-up milestone – a typical value for "healthy" production processes. In tape-out, a chip designer (in this case Intel) sends the blueprint for a processor to a chip manufacturer (in this case Intel Foundry), which then makes the exposure masks and produces the first pre-series types.
Normally, companies do not make a big secret of this process step. However, Intel's business and share price are currently on a downward trend, which is why the company is also taking smaller positive developments for public presentation.
With 18A, Intel also wants to attract more external customers for its foundry division. The first tape-out for an external customer is scheduled for the first half of 2025. The parties involved are not revealing which customer is involved.
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