Intel CEO Patrick P. Gelsinger speaks at an event giving new details about the firm's Intel Foundry manufacturing business, in San Jose, California February 21, 2024. REUTERS/Max Cherney
The relatively new Intel Foundry division has received an important order from a large company, namely Microsoft. CEO Satya Nadella has announced that his company will use Intel’s latest 18A (1.8 nm) process technology for future in-house chip development. But given Intel’s process roadmap, this means that we are not likely to see a new Microsoft chip until 2025.
Although neither company has disclosed the nature of the silicon in question, Microsoft has unveiled its own server chips Azure Maia AI Accelerator and Azure Cobalt 100 CPU last November, with an expected rollout sometime early this year. Cobalt 100 is based on Arm’s architecture, and Intel happened to optimize its 18A process for Arm’s design since April last year (it even became an investor in Arm later), so there is a good chance that this collaboration could lead to the next generation Cobalt processor, transmits Engadget.
In addition to the usual efficiency gains from shrinking the node size, the Intel 18A also offers an «industry-first backplane power solution» that separates the power interconnect layer from the data interconnect layer at the top and moves the former below the silicon substrate. This allows for better voltage regulation and reduced resistance, resulting in faster logic and lower power consumption, especially in 3D stacking.
During Intel’s Q4 financial results call, CEO Pat Gelsinger reiterated expectations that «18A will reach production readiness in the second half of ’24». Given that Intel’s own 18A-based processors — Clearwater Forest for servers and Panther Lake for clients — won’t be available until 2025, this is likely to be the timeframe for Microsoft’s chip as well.