Intel skips 20A production: Arrow Lake with many TSMC chiplets
The Core Ultra 200 exclusively uses compute chips from TSMC. Intel does not want to bring the 20A production technology into series production.
An exposed wafer from Intel Foundry with RibbonFETs.
(Image: Intel Foundry)
For months, it was unclear which chip components for the next generation of Arrow Lake processors Intel wanted to produce with its brand new 20A manufacturing process. Now it is clear: none at all. Intel is packaging this as a positive development in its announcement, as the successor 18A is expected to perform better than expected:
"One of the benefits of our early success on Intel 18A is that it enables us to shift Intel 20A development resources earlier than expected as we approach the completion of our five-nodes-in-four-years plan. With this decision, the Arrow Lake processor family will be built primarily with external partners and packaged by Intel Foundry."
"The path to Intel 18A is based on the foundations laid with Intel 20A. It allowed us to explore and refine new techniques, materials and transistor architectures that are critical to advancing Moore's Law."
Five nodes, i.e. process generations, in four years is Intel's race to catch up with the world market leader TSMC in its manufacturing technology. It started in 2021 with Intel 7, followed by Intel 4, Intel 3, Intel 20A to a certain extent and Intel 18A in 2025.
TSMC enables Arrow Lake
Intel was recently expected to launch a smaller compute die with six performance and eight efficiency cores for its upcoming Core Ultra 5 200 (Arrow Lake). However, it is now clear that all compute dies will come from TSMC, presumably from the N3 generation. It is questionable whether Intel will produce more than the base die itself. The compute chiplet with the CPU cores, the GPU die and probably an SoC chiplet with the memory controllers, among other things, will be based on this die. Intel Foundry assembles all components into one processor (advanced packaging).
20A is now just a test balloon for gate-all-around (GAA) transistors, called RibbonFETs by Intel, and the backside power supply (backside power delivery or power vias). 18A is an optimized version, especially with improved design tools. This is intended to attract external customers, which the Intel Foundry manufacturing division urgently needs to get out of the billion-euro deficit. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger recently admitted that he had underestimated the ecosystem in chip contract manufacturing.
The yield of functional chips at 18A should already be high today. However, the first processors with this technology will be a long time coming: Panther Lake, presumably as the Core Ultra 300 for desktop PCs and notebooks, and Clearwater Forest with up to 288 E cores for servers as the first offshoots are due to appear by the end of 2025.
Crisis mood
Intel Foundry's public image is anything but good at the moment. Its own 20A chips could have boosted confidence in production; now more uncertainty could spread. Intel's Board of Directors is said to be evaluating options to improve the situation in mid-September.
Recently, a report by the Reuters news agency also made headlines, according to which Broadcom is said to have decided against Intel's 18A production after initial tests. At the IFA trade fair, however, it was said behind closed doors that the decision was made purely for financial reasons.
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