Intel kicks off development on next-decade 10A and 7A process technologies — 14A node remains on track for critical October PDK release
Technologies from the 2030s.
Lip-Bu Tan, chief executive of Intel, this week confirmed that the company had already begun to work on its 10A and 7A fabrication technologies that will succeed Intel's current-generation 18A and next-generation 14A production nodes sometime in the next decade. Both 10A and 7A processes will presumably be able to use ASML's EUV lithography tools with high numerical aperture optics (High-NA), which will first be used for 14A.
"Now I am starting to work 10A, 7A, the roadmap," said Lip-Bu Tan at JP Morgan's Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference. "People do not [simply] go to you, they are looking for the roadmap for the future. So we want to build a long-term business. […]."
Tan emphasized a long-known business practice that ambitious roadmaps that are properly executed are as important as competitive products or fabrication technologies, as many companies do not just buy products, but roadmaps, as they prefer to work with suppliers for years to come. That said, Intel must offer its partners long-term roadmap visibility, so it has to work on technologies that are years from commercialization.
When it comes to Intel's 14A, its development is proceeding as planned, with version 0.5 of the process design kit (PDK) already available and version 0.9 of the PDK due in October.
"Clearly, the 14A, and we announced in Q1, we have v0.5 PDK so that they can do the test chip to look at our yield and see whether they can, over time, to really design their product and fabricate with us," Tan said. "The Holy Grail is v0.9 PDK. Right now, we are looking at October to [hand it to] the outside customer. Internal customer will be earlier, so that we make sure that we really clean the pipe, make sure that we are doing right, make sure that we can sell with good quality."
Tan says multiple customers have expressed interest in 14A, though Intel has not yet disclosed them.
"We have multiple customers engaged with us [with 14A], and to really define what product, what foundry location wants to be, what kind of capacity we need," Tan said. "I do not disclose the customer. If the customer wants to disclose, we will support that."
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As for Intel's 14A timeline, Intel expects risk production in 2028 and then volume production in 2029, which is about the time when TSMC begins to volume produce chips on its A14 fabrication technology.
Three things must be kept in mind here. Firstly, TSMC's A14 is not a direct rival for Intel's 14A as the latter features backside power delivery and is better suitable for high-end data center-grade processors. Secondly, TSMC is said to start making chips using A14 in late 2028, and the company tends to initiate high volume manufacturing (HVM) with very high yields and volumes. By contrast, Intel initiates volume production at development fabs, and it takes the company some time to reach comparable yields and volumes. Thirdly, Intel's 14A will be one of the first nodes to be compatible with High-NA EUV lithography systems (for select layers) and will be the first production node to have the capability to use such scanners for high-volume manufacturing.
Insertion of all-new High-NA EUV tools — along with new photoresists, new photomasks, new pellicles, new metrology tools, new design rules, new computational lithography flows, and a lot of other innovations — is not going to be easy for Intel, so the company is hard at work working with both ASML and partners to ensure that the new ecosystem is ready for prime time. Coincidentally, Christophe Fouquet, the head of ASML, reportedly said that the first test chips made using these High-NA EUV tools will emerge in the coming months, though he did not specify at which vendor or facility.
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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.
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usertests Reply"Now I am starting to work 10A, 7A, the roadmap," said Lip-Bu Tan at JP Morgan's Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference. "People do not go to you, they are looking for the roadmap for the future. So we want to build a long-term business. ."
If Intel is good at anything, it's roadmaps and PowerPoints for the future. -
bit_user Reply"Now I am starting to work 10A, 7A, the roadmap," said Lip-Bu Tan at JP Morgan's Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference.
Well, they'd better be pretty far along on 10A, or else they'll probably be late-to-market. From what I understand, the norm is to have the next two nodes already in development, with at least one beyond that in planning.
I think part of TSMC's winning formula is that they have a really good development pipeline. That's how they're able to release new nodes on a fairly regular basis and stick to their roadmap commitments. -
bit_user Reply
Yeah, it's kinda funny to go back and look at some of their old roadmaps. Especially, if you go back 10 or even 20 years.usertests said:If Intel is good at anything, it's roadmaps and PowerPoints for the future. -
thestryker While it's good to hear about future advanced nodes plans I have more questions about known node plans. Intel 3-T and 3-E were already supposed to be available, but it's been radio silence. This year was supposed to be the debut of Intel 12 and 18A-P and they've said nothing. It's a fair guess that 18A-P either isn't ready or they don't have enough volume since NVL is using N2P for at least desktop. To my knowledge there has been nothing said about Intel 12 since Gelsinger's ousting.Reply
For 14A to have a 0.9 PDK by the end of the year with no risk production next year doesn't seem like a great sign. From the outside it sure looks like the capital expense slow down went too far. Intel really needs to execute and do so before the competition if they want to have a good footing. If volume constraints start loosening they won't be in a favorable position unless their node is either better than TSMC's or offers something they aren't (neither seems particularly likely to me). -
phead128 Intel says it's on track....since 14nm over decade ago.Reply
Any fool who takes Intel's words at face value is an employee or a bag holder. -
vossile Clearly Lip-Bu Tan works much faster than Gelsinger in a much shorter timeframe. All that was needed to speed up the company and actually get something done was a person at the helm willing things into existence.Reply
No preparations, no year long planning, no lengthy and costly restructuring needed.
It's that simple. Works in politics too! *magic* -
bit_user Reply
First of all, he did do restructuring in their silicon R&D. Lots, in fact.vossile said:Clearly Lip-Bu Tan works much faster than Gelsinger in a much shorter timeframe. All that was needed to speed up the company and actually get something done was a person at the helm willing things into existence.
No preparations, no year long planning, no lengthy and costly restructuring needed.
Second, they were already working on most of this stuff. It's unclear how much their efforts were disrupted by his housecleaning and layoffs.
Finally, you'd better believe there are preparations, years long planning, and lots of R&D needed to develop and deploy new nodes! It's probably one of the most advanced and sophisticated industrial processes in the world, which is why it costs $Billions, takes years, and companies sometimes still have problems with certain nodes that dog them (see Samsung's recent yield problems, for example).
Nothing about it is simple. To deploy some of these nodes that depend on new lithography machines (e.g. EUV, high-NA), they basically need the fab building designed to accommodate the production lines, because of how big and specialized they are.vossile said:It's that simple.
We're not supposed to get into politics.vossile said:Works in politics too! *magic*