Intel accelerates the race to manufacture cutting-edge chips

Technological leadership, now in the hands of TSMC, depends on the ability to produce increasingly smaller processors. The company will make chips for Microsoft.

Intel deploys its artillery in the battle it is fighting with the Taiwanese TSMC and the South Korean Samsung in the manufacture of cutting-edge chips.

The American multinational has unveiled a new roadmap that contemplates the commercialization in 2026 of a more advanced manufacturing node, called 14A, although it has not shared any further details. The company has revealed that it plans to develop a new node every two years.

The announcement reaffirms the group’s commitment to regain technological leadership in chip manufacturing. Intel, which was historically at the forefront of the chip miniaturization race , was displaced by TSMC by failing to adopt extreme ultraviolet lithography technology in time to make smaller node chips. The smaller the transistors on a chip, the lower its power consumption and the higher its speed.

The American multinational embarked on an aggressive plan to reverse the situation and put five manufacturing nodes on the market in four years , thus overtaking TSMC in the race to produce chips of 2 or less nanometers.

This drive is fundamental for Intel’s aspirations in the chip manufacturing business for third parties (Intel Foundry ), where it has made heavy investments, including a factory of more than 30,000 million euros in Germany.

Intel assures that it is fulfilling its roadmap . Its Intel 3 processor, which offers performance and power efficiency comparable to 3-nanometer chips, “is already in high-volume manufacturing,” says Craig Orr, Intel’s general manager of marketing and product.

Orr explains that the company is “following the planned plans” regarding nodes 20A and 18A . Your factory customers can now start designing chips based on this last node. Production will start this year, so that the first chips will be on the market in 2025. With this, it hopes to snatch technological leadership from TSMC.

Intel closed four chip manufacturing deals with 1.8 nanometer technology last year. Today, Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft , announced that the company will produce one of its chips using this cutting-edge Intel process.

Intel Foundry earned $952 million last year, compared to $469 million in 2022. Operating losses were $482 million. The contribution remains small, since Intel had a turnover of $54,228 million in 2023.

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