The chipmaker said on Friday it had begun high-volume production using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines at its $18.5 billion plant in Ireland, calling it a “landmark” moment as it seeks to regain ground on its rivals. The EUV tools, theoretically precise enough to hit a thumb with a laser pointer from the moon, will play a significant role in Intel’s goal of delivering five generations of technology every four years.
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has vowed to return the company to performance leadership in 2025 by aggressively advancing its process technologies and establishing a foundry business for external customers. This requires that the firm not only design and market its chips but also make them at factories owned by other companies. This is known as fabless manufacturing. Some of the world’s most famous semiconductor makers, such as Nvidia Corp and Qualcomm Inc, are fabless.
However, the fabless model is increasingly being challenged by the rise of China, where labor costs are lower than in the West and government subsidies help fund plant construction. It is wisdom among American doomsayers that Chinese factories will soon replace U.S. plants, and chipmakers will be compelled to save a few pennies per unit by shipping the production overseas.
A decade ago, the prevailing view was that transistor density could double every 18 months. Intel, which designed and marketed its processors, would risk developing new production technologies to ensure it kept pace with TSMC and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. But it did not happen, prompting analysts to dub the period the “lost decade.”
Now, the company is trying to turn things around. It has partially been able to do that by revamping its product strategy. It has developed new packages and started a foundry business for external customers while attempting to reset its famous engineering culture. Intel has also taken some risks, such as its controversial decision to develop 10nm, a technology still in the early stages of development.
In the coming months, Intel will receive its first next-generation EUV machine from supplier ASML. This new model, called High-NA, is much more accurate than the existing machines. Intel will use this machine to finalize the manufacturing template for its new 2023 process node, referred to as Intel 4, and is expected to deliver a 20% boost in performance per watt. Intel typically finalizes these new manufacturing templates at its research and development site in Oregon before moving them to larger fabs in other regions.
