For now, if accurate, Apple’s decision to move beyond preliminary talks and into structured 18A evaluation gives Intel something it has lacked for several years: a prospective anchor customer willing to test the maturity of its leading-edge manufacturing at scale.
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Luke James Social Links Navigation Contributor Luke James is a freelance writer and journalist. Although his background is in legal, he has a personal interest in all things tech, especially hardware and microelectronics, and anything regulatory.
JRStern Should it really take 18 months to volume production? I know everything is hyper-complex now, but by that same token if it is that complex and takes that long how certain can anybody be that it eventually happens? Maybe there's some good news hidden in here, maybe some prototypes have worked out better than expected? Reply
Gururu Could be existing contracts. Intel stock surged yesterday on this. If it inks, the Apple connection will be even better than the nVidia support. Reply
thestryker JRStern said: Should it really take 18 months to volume production? Yes because the poster was referring to 18A-P rather than just 18A. Currently Intel only has one fab capable of running volume 18A which will be busy with internal products. I imagine the second capable fab in Arizona should open up next year some time so this would likely be the one running 18A-P. Ramping volume for external customers will be slow due to all the slow downs in construction and Ireland running 3 for the foreseeable future. Reply
JayNor ai search on the topic says 18a and 18a-p could be run in the same fab. I'm going to guess that fab62 will be held for 14a, since Intel doesn't seem to be in any hurry to finish the Ohio fabs Reply
thestryker Intel had capacity problems in Ireland not due to being unable to run both Intel 3 and 4 at the same facility, but due to contracts requiring continued manufacture of Intel 4 parts (whatever Ericsson's deal was and MTL). If PTL, CWF, NVL and DMR all use 18A there's no chance they could squeeze in volume for their own parts that will be using 18AP let alone Apple's. Reply
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/intel-moves-closer-to-building-apples-entry-level-m-series-chips-on-18a#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
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