Intel will use its Foundry Services to produce chips for Qualcomm on the Intel 20A process. Intel has put that on the roadmap for 2024. Amazon Web Services will let Intel take care of the packaging of chips.
It is not yet known what kind of chips Intel will produce for Qualcomm, but the companies do say that it concerns chips that are made on Intel’s 20A process. That name refers to 20 angstrom, which corresponds to 2nm. Intel will also apply new technologies from that node, such as RibbonFET and PowerVia.
Qualcomm says it is enthusiastic about these new techniques and is also happy to have a new partner who can handle the production. Qualcomm is an American chip designer without its own chip manufacturing factories. The company has its socs made by third parties, such as TSMC and Samsung. With Intel, a new partner is added.
Intel has put its Intel 20A node on the roadmap for the second half of 2024. Whether Qualcomm chips made by Intel will be released immediately is not yet known, but in any case that is not expected before then.
Amazon Web Services will also become Intel’s customer, but not for chip production. AWS partners with Intel for the packaging of chips. Intel works with techniques such as Foveros and EMIB on, among other things, stacking chips. AWS will use that for its data center infrastructure. It is also not yet known when Intel will process the AWS chips.
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger says there are as many as 100 customers in the pipeline. According to the CEO, many companies are interested in the new Intel technologies, but also in existing and older nodes. In addition to Qualcomm and AWS, Intel is not yet naming names, but according to Gelsinger, these include “competitors from the past”, industrial companies, car manufacturers and other chip manufacturers.
According to Gelsinger, customers of Intel’s Foundry Services will have access to the same nodes that Intel uses to make its own products. Intel does not keep its latest technologies exclusively for itself.
In March , Intel announced that it would produce chips for third parties . Under the name Intel Foundry Services, Intel competes with companies such as TSMC. As part of those plans, Intel plans to expand with several new chip factories in both Europe and the United States.
