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The sudden emergence of Apple M1 last year made people see Apple’s achievements in chips
Sina Digital News reported on the morning of January 14 that some foreign media reported that Intel is in contact with chip manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to prepare to outsource its chip manufacturing business.
In terms of chip manufacturing, TSMC is technologically ahead of Intel, which is proven in the 5nm A14 chip produced by the company for Apple.
Last year, there was speculation that Intel might focus more on chip design and outsource manufacturing. Apple currently uses this approach.
In the past 2020, Intel has encountered various troubles, not only being crushed by Apple’s M1 chip, but also being overtaken by AMD. Although its chips have dominated the computer industry in the past 20 years, in terms of manufacturing…After several years of delay, Intel has now truly controlled the 10nm process. The Rocket Lake chip for desktop computers next year will still be manufactured using a 14-nanometer process.
The cooperation with TSMC may indicate that Intel has found a new way for itself, such as outsourcing from manufacturers such as TSMC or Samsung. A new Bloomberg report today shows that Intel has contacted TSMC and Samsung for outsourcing certain products. Bloomberg said that Intel has not yet made a decision, but TrendForce said that Intel has outsourced about 15-20% of its non-CPU chip production. Most of the wafer starts for these products have been allocated to TSMC and United China Electronics (UMC). Intel’s mid-range and high-end CPUs are expected to be put into mass production at TSMC’s 3nm technology node in the second half of 2022.
In addition, the report pointed out that AMD may also outsource manufacturing operations to TSMC. TrendForce believes that Intel and others will only manufacture their own high-profit chips, outsource the remaining products, and spend future capital expenditures on R&D more effectively.
Losing Apple’s Mac chip business is a major blow to Intel. Apple has proven how far it has gone in terms of processor performance and energy efficiency, and this is just the beginning. Intel’s latest 12-generation chips (which are expected to be put into use in notebook computers in the second half of the year) will still be manufactured using a 10-nanometer process, while Apple’s M1 is a 5-nanometer process.