Intel defers placing 3nm chip orders with TSMC
Monica Chen, Hsinchu; Rodney Chan, DIGITIMES Asia
Tuesday 21 February 2023
Intel will delay placing orders for 3nm chips with TSMC until the fourth quarter of 2024, according to sources at PC makers.
Intel has been in the doldrums in recent years, and despite its cost-cutting strategies such as personnel streamlining, it is expected to continue to see losses in the first quarter of 2023 in the face of a weak PC market and intensifying competition from AMD.
The sources from the PC industry said that in recent years, Intel's manufacturing processes and PC platform blueprints have been frequently revised, and the delays in product launches have seriously disrupted the supply chain's production and marketing plans.
In order to revive its business, Intel has recently given a clearer timeline for its platform transitions for 2023-2026, the sources noted. The Meteor Lake will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2023, with the notebook version to be available first and the desktop version to come in the second quarter of 2024. Prior to the Meteor Lake launch will be Raptor Lake-S Refresh.
Its collaboration with TSMC on 3nm manufacturing will be delayed till the fourth quarter of 2024 for the making of the GFX tile for Arrow Lake, the sources said, adding that the Panther Lake and Nova Lake are expected to be launched in the third quarter of 2025 and in 2026 respectively.
The sources said the PC market is expected to remain weak throughout this year, and even major product launches by Intel -- if any -- may not be able to stimulate demand.
According to Intel's roadmap for PC platforms, the Raptor Lake for desktops was launched in October 2022, and Raptor Lake Refresh will be unveiled in the fourth quarter of 2023, the sources said.
The Meteor Lake -- with the CPU tile made using the Intel 4 process, the GFX tile using TSMC's 5nm process, and the SoC tile and IOE tile both using TSMC's 6nm process -- will be introduced in the second quarter of 2024. Raptor Lake Refresh and Meteor Lake will be the mainstay until at least the fourth quarter of 2024 when Arrow Lake arrives.
Arrow Lake-P will come first, to be followed by HX and H versions in the first quarter of 2025, the sources said. |
