Intel has taken the fairly unprecedented step of instantly denouncing claims by Charlie Demerjian that it has “pulled the plug on [its] struggling 10nm process.” Intel has tweeted a response to the SemiAccurate article only a few hours after its publication, saying that the reviews are unfaithful and that each one is effectively on the planet of its 10nm node.
Well, okay possibly not that effectively as it’s nonetheless massively delayed and unlikely to seek out its manner into quantity manufacturing till round this kind of time subsequent 12 months. At the earliest. That’s in step with what Intel has itself publicly said because the timeline for its latest lithography, however does imply that it will likely be ceding the method result in AMD for the primary time in ages.
AMD could have its 7nm Zen 2 processors out within the wild by the center of 2019, that means that it’ll doubtlessly have a six month lead time on Intel’s notionally equal 10nm manufacturing course of. There are reviews that AMD won’t solely have the advantages of a manufacturing lead by that point, however can even have delivered 10%+ more instructions per clock (IPC) in its next-gen CPUs too.
The Twitter assertion from Intel reads: “Media reports published today that Intel is ending work on the 10nm process are untrue. We are making good progress on 10nm. Yields are improving consistent with the timeline we shared during our last earnings report.”
Media reviews printed at this time that Intel is ending work on the 10nm course of are unfaithful. We are making good progress on 10nm. Yields are enhancing in keeping with the timeline we shared throughout our final earnings report.
— Intel News (@intelnews) October 22, 2018
It’s the yields that are the present drawback that Intel has been experiencing with the brand new course of. It hasn’t been capable of get constant quantity out of its 10nm fabs, making 10nm CPUs very costly to fabricate.
The SemiAccurate report says that the nixing of the 10nm lithography is for one of the best, and that it’s a sign that “Intel is finally willing to do the right things for the right reasons even if it costs them some short term pain.”
But provided that AMD goes to have what seem like critically aggressive 7nm processors out by the point the apparently inhumed 10nm Intel chips would have been launched, it begs the query as to what’s changing them.
It’s potential that regardless of Intel’s assertions on the contrary there could possibly be a kernel of reality on the coronary heart of Charlie’s claims of insider data. I kinda suppose it’s unlikely that Intel could have fully killed off the 10nm node – except the transfer all the way down to a 7nm EUV node is a extra lifelike goal – however possibly the CPU structure anticipated to reach on the finish of subsequent 12 months has been.
On its previous tick-tock and process-architecture-optimisation fashions Intel all the time saved a brand new structure and a brand new manufacturing course of separated by a era. Perhaps Intel has determined that in an effort to maintain AMD in examine it must skip the 10nm CPUs based mostly on the present 14nm structure (which roughly dates again to Skylake) and begin with a recent structure on the brand new node.
Whatever the reality of the matter, the quick response from Intel is as fascinating as it’s unprecedented.
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