Intel principal engineer bemoans potential TSMC takeover, touts company's 18A tech advantage

Intel's headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif.
(Image credit: Intel)

The rumors about Intel and TSMC forming a semiconductor production joint venture have spurred significant reactions among analysts, the industry, and politicians. Needless to say, it was natural for Intel employees to react to the information, too. Joseph Bonetti, Principal Engineering Program Manager at Intel Corp., wrote his personal opinion in a LinkedIn post that the company is about to reclaim its process technology lead and gain customers among fabless chipmakers in the coming years, so handing TSMC control of Intel's manufacturing would be counterproductive (Edit: the post has now been deleted).

"Intel Leaders, Intel Board, Trump Administration, please do not sell out and/or give control of Intel Foundry to TSMC, just as Intel is taking a technical lead and getting out of first gear. This would be a horrible, demoralizing mistake," wrote Bonetti.

Contrary to reports suggesting it lags behind a key competitor, Bonetti argues, Intel is making significant advancements in semiconductor manufacturing. The company's latest fabrication process, Intel 3, is already used to make Xeon 6 data center processors, while the company's next-generation Intel 18A is nearing completion and is expected to be used to make Panther Lake processors for client PCs later this year. Meanwhile, TSMC's equivalent process technology — N2 (2nm-class) — will only enter mass production phase in late 2025.

Intel is also ahead with its High-NA EUV initiatives. The company acquired two ASML Twinscan EXE machines and is the only chipmaker that has experience working with such tools. Despite financial struggles, Intel Foundry is poised to prove itself with major partners, which makes any potential deal that hands control to a rival a major strategic error.

Many claims in recent reports misrepresent Intel's progress, stresses Bonetti. Some suggest TSMC engineers are needed to get Intel's latest process technologies to work, but Intel 3 has been in mass production for months, and Panther Lake, made on Intel 18A, is already sampling with laptop manufacturers.

Intel 18A and TSMC N2 both introduce gate-all-around transistors, but Intel's fabrication process includes an additional breakthrough: backside power delivery, which promises to improve efficiency and performance and give Intel's products an edge over those made by TSMC.

The Intel engineer reckons that Intel Foundry is currently unprofitable due to massive investments in facilities and equipment, and it has yet to win contracts from major external customers. However, early adoption by Microsoft and Amazon signals confidence in Intel's capabilities. If these efforts succeed, more industry leaders may shift production. To that end, ceding control of Intel Foundry to TSMC would neutralize Intel as a competitor and harm U.S. leadership in the semiconductor industry.

Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

  • Marlin1975
    "Intel is making significant advancements in semiconductor manufacturing"


    Put up or shut up. Intel has been saying this for what now a decade?
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    Marlin1975 said:
    "Intel is making significant advancements in semiconductor manufacturing"


    Put up or shut up. Intel has been saying this for what now a decade?
    And they have been raking in the money for over a decade...what more do they have to put up?!
    They are cutting edge enough for them to make huge amounts of money.
    Even for their fabs, all they have to do is to provide good enough for a good price.
    Being the leader is just bragging rights on top of everything else.
    Reply
  • rluker5
    Buy low, sell high.
    Remember when Intel squandered their process lead by sticking with DUV?
    That is TSMC right now.
    Reply
  • dalek1234
    Marlin1975 said:
    "Intel is making significant advancements in semiconductor manufacturing"


    Put up or shut up. Intel has been saying this for what now a decade?
    Intel like to make these grandiose statements, but the reality ends up being just the opposite. Not many listen to what Intel says these days. We've been burnt too many times.

    I'm suspecting that this engineer's opinion is a lie he created to make Intel look desirable from outside, to make Intel worth more to any external "buyers". He just paints too rosy of a picture. Cloud 9 stuff.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    Marlin1975 said:
    "Intel is making significant advancements in semiconductor manufacturing"

    Put up or shut up. Intel has been saying this for what now a decade?
    Intel 7 finally showed the potential of Intel's 10 nm-class technology.

    Intel 3 is a clear advancement over Intel 7 and seems to be maturing well. I just wish we could've had the same chip on Intel 3 and TSMC N3B, in order to make a proper comparison.

    The real test will be 18A, which should become more clear when Panther Lake launches, later this year.

    In summary, in spite of their extensive delays and various missteps, it's clear that Intel is executing and making real progress. At this point, the key questions are whether 18A will arrive on time and live up to its billing.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    dalek1234 said:
    Intel like to make these grandiose statements, but the reality ends up being just the opposite. Not many listen to what Intel says these days. We've been burnt too many times.
    Fair.

    dalek1234 said:
    I'm suspecting that this engineer's opinion is a lie he created to make Intel look desirable from outside, to make Intel worth more to any external "buyers". He just paints too rosy of a picture. Cloud 9 stuff.
    I disagree, but there definitely can be a situation where "group think" occurs and the insiders all drink the kool aid.

    I'm not sure that's happening, here. The only way we can be sure is to wait and see (assuming nobody does anything that kills 18A in the cradle).
    Reply
  • spiketheaardvark
    I cannot imagine a situation where any US administration (even in our current state of crazy) would hand a foreign company a monopoly in something as important as leading edge semiconductor manufacturing. Global foundries maybe, TSMC never happening.
    Reply
  • Pierce2623
    Marlin1975 said:
    "Intel is making significant advancements in semiconductor manufacturing"


    Put up or shut up. Intel has been saying this for what now a decade?
    Honestly, there’s not a single analyst out there who doesn’t think 18a will gain a clear performance victory over TSMC n2.
    Reply
  • Gururu
    I think the only thing TSMC can show Intel how to do is to whip its employees into shape for pennies on the dollar.
    Reply
  • Gururu
    Pierce2623 said:
    Honestly, there’s not a single analyst out there who doesn’t think 18a will gain a clear performance victory over TSMC n2.
    double negative, meaning unclear.
    Reply