TSMC will provide Intel with 3nm chips in the second half of 2022
On January 27, according to Taiwan media DIGITIMES, according to an unknown person, Intel signed an outsourcing contract with TSMC last year and will produce three nanotechnology CPUs in the second half of 2022. The report points out that Intel will become the second largest customer of TSMC's 3-nanometer chip, second only to apple.
According to previous Bloomberg reports, Intel is discussing with TSMC, Samsung and other manufacturers whether it is possible to outsource some high-end chips to the two manufacturers. It is said that the negotiations between Intel and Samsung are still in a more preliminary stage.
Second, the decline of Intel chip manufacturing process.Back in 2018, Intel outsourced the production of some 14 nm chips to TSMC due to increased demand and manufacturing problems. Previously, Intel's chip manufacturing process has been leading the global market. Six years ago, only 14nm capacity was put into use.
Since last year, FinFET process has stopped the production of 10nm process, and now it has announced that the production of 7Nm process will be postponed until next year at least, which makes it lose its competitive advantage in chip manufacturing process.
TSMC and Samsung are the world's two largest chip OEM manufacturers. In these six years, the two companies have basically continued the pace of updating advanced process for 1-2 years. This year, they have started the production of 5nm process. It is expected to start the production of 3nm process next year, further leading Intel in advanced process.
The backward chip production process has brought trouble to Intel. Intel could have occupied a place in the PC market. Its biggest dependence is the leading advantage of chip process. In early years, it completely suppressed amd by relying on the process. In addition, it maintains a leading advantage in chip architecture research and development. This is the tick tock strategy.
In the face of competitive pressure, Intel seeks the help of agents.
After the failure of competition in the PC market, amd had to sell its chip manufacturing business to obtain funds, and then had to sell office buildings to raise funds to develop Zen architecture. However, due to the success of its Zen architecture and the support of advanced technology of TSMC, amd has regained its vitality in the PC market, and its market share is rising, while Intel's market share continues to decline.
When faced with difficulties, Intel handed over some chips to TSMC for the first time last year, hoping to rely on the support of TSMC to get rid of the current situation that the chip manufacturing process lags behind AMD. At the same time, the 10nm process just put into operation is mainly used to produce more important server chips. This is also the first time that the company has outsourced chip manufacturing to a chip foundry company since its establishment.
