At the IFS Direct Connect 2024 event, Intel unveiled a new roadmap that includes a new 14A process, the first in the industry to use High-NA EUV technology, and wafer production of its Clearwater Forest processors on the 18A process. Intel realizes its goal: to launch five technological processes in four years (5N4Y). Microsoft also announced the creation of its own chips based on the Intel 18A process.

Intel has changed the name of Intel Foundry Services to Intel Foundry. Intel Manufacturing aims to become the world’s second-largest chip “systems factory” by 2030. This includes not only manufacturing different types of processors, but also providing customers with packaging and connectivity solutions and even helping with cooling solutions. The Intel Foundry will serve both external customers and Intel’s internal needs, with the goal of serving both equally through a sustainable supply chain.

Intel announced new capabilities in the Intel Foundry Advanced System and Test (ASAT) portfolio that will help customers build their own artificial intelligence chips using the full suite of Intel technologies.

Intel 7 and Intel 4 technologies are already available on the market, and Intel 3 is ready for mass production. The 20A (2nm) and 18A (1.8nm) processes are poised to create the industry’s first chips with the PowerVia power system, which provides optimized power routing to improve performance and transistor density, and the first with RibbonFET gate-all-around technology ( GAA), which provides better transistor density along with faster switching, but in a smaller footprint. Intel 18A is ready for design with 0.9 PDK from Intel EDA (software for design) and partners, full version 1.0 PDK will arrive in April-May.

The final design of the Intel Clearwater Forest processors is ready for production. Clearwater Forest is the company’s first large-scale chip on the 18A process. The Clearwater Forest chip consists of 18A CPU chips that are joined together with the Intel 3 base die using Foveros 3D packaging technology.

Clearwater Forest is the first large-scale processor to use Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe), a new industry interface for connecting chips together. UCIe is a key advance that cannot be overlooked: the interface is supported by Intel, AMD, ARM, NVIDIA, TSMC, Samsung and 120 other manufacturers to standardize direct connections between chiplets with open source design. This reduces costs and creates a broad ecosystem of proven combinational ICs from many manufacturers.

Next, the Post-5N4Y diagram shows the Intel 14A process. This will be the first process in the industry to use ASML’s High-NA EUV lithography tool. This will allow manufacturers to print smaller chips and, according to Intel, provide higher performance. Intel is the first company in the industry to receive the advanced High-NA tool, while TSMC is said to have delayed the use of the tool until 2030 due to cost concerns.

Also, Intel will equip Intel 7, Intel 3 and Intel 16 processes with new “linear extensions”. Intel plans to deliver a new process every two years and then expand the lines every two years, similar to its old Tick-Tock model. These string extensions will be denoted by new suffixes.

The P suffix indicates a new version of the node with improved performance, the T suffix is ​​for nodes equipped with TSVs that can be used with hybrid connection / 3D Foveros, and the E suffixes indicate special new features such as operating ranges / voltage ranges that adjust Intel will also use PT processes that will address both performance and special features.

In the coming years, Intel will receive the new Intel 12 process, which will be the result of production cooperation with UMC.

The Intel Foundry Services Accelerator program will help chip developers easily adapt Intel’s manufacturing technologies. This program currently includes 34 partners across four alliances: IP, EDA, Design Services, and USMAG (US Military, Aerospace and Government). This extensive list of partners includes EDA heavyweights such as Ansys, Cadence, Synopsys, Siemens and Keysight, as well as a wide range of IP partners including Arm, RISC-V, SiFive, Rambus and others.

Intel’s 15th generation processors (Arrow Lake-S) will likely abandon Hyper-Threading technology in favor of Profitable Units

More extensive coverage and some analysis — at Tom’s Hardware.

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