Intel 18a engraving is a reality and could put Intel back in the race

This is a baptism of fire that gets to the heart! While preparing a huge dismissal plan, the geopolitical situation is stretched and the pressure of Wall Street was right for its predecessor, the new boss of Intel, Lip-Bu Tan, chose his Intel Foundry Direct Connect conference to approach the burning subject: his Intel 18A engraving technology.

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For his first public speech since taking office, Lip-Bu Tan reassured the audience united in San Diego: “Panther Lake 18a will arrive well by the end of the year“, He assured a slow and neutral phrasing that contrasts with the energetic style of the earthy Pat Gelsinger. An assertion that validates a reality: Intel continues its technological raising against Taiwanese TSMC.

Far from being anecdotal, the Declaration of the CEO of Intel was intended to reassure not only the actors of an industry which needs more production capacity and a competitor to TSMC. But also financiers, who want to know if the tens of billions invested by the previous boss will result in a return on investment. A necessity for a company that displays several quarters of losses – $ 821 million in actual losses in this quarter of this year.

In this return to return to profitability, the importance of the node (engraving technology, editor’s note) Intel 18A is enormous. So huge that Pat Gelsinger admitted in April 2024 to have “bet the future of the company on Intel 18A“.

Intel 18a, the return to the race?

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After having come up for years on the node known as 10 Nm which earned him to be distanced by TSMC, Intel woke up. LIP-BU Tan inherits here from the Pat Gelsinger roadmap, called 5N4Y. A plan that translates into “Five nodes in four years“which led to 18A. In addition to the classic reduction in the size of the circuits, this manufacturing node is major not only for Intel, but also for industry.

Intel 18a indeed introduces several new flea design methods. The first is the supply from the back of the Power Delivery flea or backside. A technology called Powervia by Intel, which has the interest of withdrawing the supply circuits from the logical part. This makes it possible to densify the transistors linked to calculation a little and to reduce energy consumption a little.

The other technology introduced by Intel 18A is even more important and is called Gaafet. This is the first change in spatial conformation of transistors since 2011! At that time, Intel had been the first to introduce transistors with a finish field effect (finfet in jargon). A structure that is always at the heart of all the chips that have surrounded us for 14 years.

The Intel marketing name of these new transistors is Ribbonfet. Transistors whose technique is to pass the fins not in part, but totally inside the logical door. An organization which has the interest not only to densify transistors, but also to limit current leaks.

With all these improvements, the Node Intel 18A promises a lot on paper. But technology alone cannot save Intel: for its strategy to transform its factories works, it is also necessary and above all that customers are interested. And to attract them, it is necessary not only a finesse of engraving. But also tools to take advantage of it.

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Third -party design tools are there

If Intel unrolled its technologies and roadmaps, the most important aspect of the Intel conference was the presence of a third -party business on stage, called cadence, synopsys and siemens. Actors who may not speak to you. But which are, however, essential: almost all of the chips on the planet are designed with their technologies and tools!

And it was not second knives that were on stage, but the CEOs. All with the same message: “Our tools are ready to design Intel 18A fleas“. And believe it or not, this is a small revolution: because before the creation of Intel Foundry Services by the previous CEO of Intel, Pat Gelsinger, Intel and its rare external customers had to use Intel’s home tools.

“We started work very early to design our tools to support Intel 18A. All our architectures (Ip et I/o, ndr) are ready for this node“Said Sassine Ghazi, CEO of Synopsys, the leader in flea design software tools.”Compared to the node 10 nm of Intel (which used the internal tools of Intel, NDR), The design of chips in intel 18a (with synopsys, editor’s note) tools is three to four times easier“Ensured the boss of Synopsys.

The chip war and geopolitics are on the side of Intel

If TSMC reigns for the moment as master over the best engraving technologies, this de facto monopoly is a weakness for the industry. The Taiwanese has noted its prices and its customers several times have no choice but to follow. Then, the production capacities of TSMC, however the most important on the planet, are not enough to feed the appetite of the world in terms of fleas. The race for AI pouring out delusional sums, everyone is fighting for production capacities.

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Players who try to get graphics cards pay the costs: why produce GPUs at $ 1,500 (which is already expensive), when an intensive calculation GPU like the Nvidia H200 can sell for $ 30,000?

Finally, the fact that China is increasingly aggressive vis-à-vis Taiwan worries more and more people. In the event of an invasion, the disruption of TSMC factories would not only deprive Nvidia and Apple, but also AMD, Qualcomm and all the rest of the design industry of their products. There would be no more iPhone, GeForce or PlayStation on the one hand, but there are also lack of fleas for cars, trains and millions of other consumer goods incorporating flea (not necessarily peak).

All the actors that we approached during the conference, including Qualcomm, rented the rise of a second actor who, alongside Samsung, represents a viable alternative to TSMC in the event of rise in geopolitical tensions. Tensions that force countries and businesses to think of the redundancy of supply chains, but also elements of sovereignty.

Intel has also released very clear PowerPoint slides from its round: its technologies and factories are certified by the American Department of Defense. In the economic war with China, this seal and factories located in the USA are an asset of weight to convince.

Build customer culture

Former CEO of Cadence, LIP-BU TAN has made its previous company a giant of flea design tools. He therefore knows better than anyone how the ecosystem works. “”All our customers have different ways of designing fleas“Explained the new CEO of Intel. Adding that”Now we have all the best EDAs (flea design tools, NDR) Compatible with our node Intel 18a“.

But Intel is an old house. Changing the culture takes time. If all the actors who came on stage highlighted their pleasure to work with Intel, the CEO of Cadence was very clear: “Intel is a big company but it cannot all alone, it must move with the ecosystem.“Understand that if Intel behaved in” boss “on previous decades, times have changed. The industry is more complex than ever and Intel can never control everything on its own. It must learn not only to build a customer culture, but also work in concert with its partners.

LIP-BU TAN does not lure and remained humble throughout its speech. Although aware of being “The only company capable of producing peak fleas in the USA“, The Intel chief engineer concluded a sentence as a warning to his own employees:”Past successes do not guarantee future success“. In two words:”at work“.

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