At the IFS Direct Connect 2024 event, Intel unveiled a new roadmap that includes a new 14A process, the industry’s first to use High-NA EUV technology, and the production of its Clearwater Forest processor wafer on the 18A process. Intel is pursuing its own goal of launching five process technologies in four years (5N4Y). Microsoft also announced the creation of its own chips based on the Intel 18A process.
Intel changed the name of Intel Foundry Services to Intel Foundry. Intel’s production facility aims to become the world’s second largest «system fab» of chips by 2030. This includes not only manufacturing processors of various types, but also providing customers with packaging and connectivity solutions and even assistance with cooling solutions. The Intel Foundry will serve both external customers and internal Intel needs, with the goal of serving both areas equally with a sustainable supply chain.
Intel has announced new capabilities in the Intel Foundry Advanced System and Test (ASAT) portfolio that will help customers build their own AI chips using the full suite of Intel technologies.
Intel 7 and Intel 4 processes are already available on the market, and Intel 3 is ready for mass production. Processes 20A (2 nm) and 18A (1.8 nm) are ready to create industry-first chips with PowerVia power system, which provides optimized power routing for improved performance and transistor density, and the first with RibbonFET gate-all-around (GAA) technology, which provides better transistor density along with faster switching, but in a smaller area. The Intel 18A is already ready for design with 0.9 PDK from Intel EDA (design software) and partners, with the full 1.0 PDK coming in April-May.
The final design of Intel’s 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 is made up of 18A CPU tiles, which are then connected together with an Intel 3 base crystal using 3D Foveros packaging technology.
Clearwater Forest is the first large-scale processor to utilize Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe), a new industry interface for connecting chips together. UCIe is a key advancement that cannot be overlooked: the interface is supported by Intel, AMD, ARM, NVIDIA, TSMC, Samsung, and 120 other manufacturers to standardize direct connections between chipsets with open source design. This reduces costs and creates a wide ecosystem of proven combined chips from many manufacturers.
The Post-5N4Y diagram below shows the Intel 14A process. This will be the first process in the industry to utilize ASML’s High-NA EUV lithography tool. This will allow manufacturers to print smaller chips and, according to Intel, deliver higher performance. Intel is the first company in the industry to receive the advanced High-NA tool, while TSMC is said to have delayed using the tool until 2030 due to cost concerns.
Intel will also equip the Intel 7, Intel 3, and Intel 16 processes with new «line extensions». Intel plans to ship a new process every two years and then extend the lines every two years, similar to its old Tick-Tock model. These line 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 TSV-equipped nodes that can be used with hybrid interconnect/3D Foveros, and the E suffixes indicate special new features, such as customized operating/voltage ranges. Intel will also use PT processes to indicate both performance and special features.
In the coming years, Intel will have a new process, Intel 12, which will be the result of a manufacturing collaboration with UMC.
The Intel Foundry Services Accelerator program will help chip designers easily adapt Intel’s manufacturing technologies. The program currently includes 34 partners spread across four alliances: IP, EDA, Design Services, and USMAG (US Military, Aerospace, and Government). This broad 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.
For a broader presentation and some analysis — see Tom’s Hardware.