Whatever Raja Koduri does proper now makes information. The ex-AMD graphics boss made an enormous splash within the GPU waters by leaping ship from crew Radeon to move up Intel’s burgeoning GPU design crew, and now he’s made the transfer over to Samsung. Okay, it’s only for a go to this time, however his look at a Samsung chip manufacturing plant in South Korea has sparked rumours that Intel could be contemplating contracting its semiconductor rival to fabricate its Intel Xe graphics playing cards.
That potential partnership would possibly sound weird, particularly provided that Intel and Samsung have been combating it out to assert the title of largest chip producer on the planet. Last yr Samsung was the primary firm to knock Intel off the highest spot since 1992, nevertheless it’s extensively anticipated that, as a result of a decline of the reminiscence market, Intel will retake its throne this yr.
So, why wouldn’t it give over a big chunk of its new manufacturing to a rival with the intention to get its first discrete graphics playing cards out of the door in 2020? One phrase. Capacity.
The hearsay has spilled from a Twitter put up Raja dropped on Tuesday morning, with an image of him saying ‘hello’ outdoors a Samsung fab in Korea. It was picked up by Techpowerup, although the contract hearsay has additionally been spilling across the fringes of Reddit.
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Raja’s go to got here across the similar time Samsung introduced its readiness for 5nm EUV manufacturing, and there was the suggestion that Intel is to be one of many prospects who has ordered sampling on the 5nm node.
Anyoung haseyo pic.twitter.com/byg8y63W7i
— Raja Koduri (@Rajaontheedge) April 16, 2019
In phrases of getting a spread of discrete GPUs out of the door subsequent yr – in a wide range of segments from datacenter, although gaming, and right down to built-in – Intel passim teaches us that it may not have the manufacturing capability to do this in addition to ramp up its quantity manufacturing of 10nm processors on the similar time.
Intel has been struggling to get to the mass manufacturing mark for its 10nm node, and suffered massively from having each its motherboard and chipset manufacturing on the 14nm course of for such a very long time. This led to excessive silicon shortages over the past yr or so, making us query whether or not it actually would have the manufacturing functionality to tackle this entire new sphere of chip manufacturing in 2020.
And contemplating the transistor counts of recent discrete GPUs – the RTX 2080 Ti has 18.6bn inside it – Intel will need to get on as small a course of node as it could actually for its Intel Xe GPUs. But it is going to additionally need to manufacture on an reasonably priced node too, and its 10nm course of doesn’t seem like it’s at that time but. So, if Intel desires to make a GPU beneath the 14nm transistor scale, it’s going to must look outdoors of its personal fabs… and selecting Samsung makes good sense.
It’s already working by way of EUV production on 7nm, 6nm, and 5nm, which implies fewer layers of masking within the manufacturing course of and that simplification may find yourself making it extra reasonably priced. Couple that with the truth that its three new nodes are roughly cross-compatible, that means {that a} chip designed for 7nm EUV may be simply ported throughout to 5nm EUV as and when it’s wanted.
Samsung may have its EUV manufacturing strains prepared for mass manufacturing in 2020, and says it has had all of the design IP out with potential prospects because the tail finish of 2018. That would point out it’s not past the bounds of chance for it to fabricate both 7nm, and even 5nm, product for Intel subsequent yr.
Right now, nevertheless, that’s all simply hypothesis. A easy ‘anyoung haseyo’ from Raja and the Intel Xe turns into a 5nm EUV product manufactured for Intel by Samsung. That’s perhaps so much to deduce from a tweeted ‘hello’ although it does all make plenty of sense. Especially if we’re to see a aggressive Intel Xe discrete graphics card in twelve months time.
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