AMD is set to be among the early clients of TSMC‘s new Arizona plant, which raised concerns surrounding Intel’s use of less efficient nodes for their processors. Intel did release a roadmap prioritizing the switch to smaller, more efficient nodes by 2025. According to the latest news by Spectrum.ieee, Intel has confirmed they are on track with the roadmap squashing any rumors about potential delays. The Intel 4 – previously known as Intel 7nm process is set to debut with the Meteor Lake processor next year. The node is cleared for high-volume manufacturing (HVM), and mainstream production should commence in the next second half of 2023. It is the company’s first production node that will use extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. Similarly, the Intel 3 process, which is set to be production ready by 2023, is also on track. Intel 3 will debut with the Granite Rapids and Sierra Forest products. Intel has accelerated its pace of becoming the first manufacturer that sets the bar high with a 2nm process chip. The Intel 20A RibbonFET transistor architecture will commence production in 2024 alongside the Intel 18A process, putting them ahead of the original schedule. The 20A production node will be their most innovative process yet. It utilizes gate-all-around (GAA) technology termed RibbonFET. The Intel 20A is expected to be the technology that establishes the dominance of Intel over TSMC in manufacturing. If not dominant, Intel will be able to stand on an equal footing, which is a far cry from the current situation. According to Ann B. Kelleher – general manager of technology development at Intel, the future of production relies on the system technology co-optimization concept. According to her, the best approach to production methods is to use an “outside-in” approach. Further explaining her, she expressed approaching production from top to bottom. First determining the workload and the software, then working on the architecture and the type of silicon that is first in the achieve all the most optimal results. There is only so much that can be done by shrinking the size of the CPU die, which renders the outside-in approach as something that hardware enthusiasts are going to keep their eyes glued on.
