Intel has announced that its first two 18A products are out of the fab and have powered-on and booted operating systems.
In a statement, the chip maker said its AI PC client processor, Panther Lake, and server processor, Clearwater Forest, are on track to start production in 2025, with the first external customer expected to tape out on Intel 18A in the first half of next year.
Intel 18A is one of the final nodes from the company’s '5 Nodes in 4 Years' roadmap and is the first to include the company’s PowerVia power delivery system, RibbonFET gate-all-around transistor architecture, and leverage Intel's open system foundry model.
RibbonFET gate-all-around transistor architecture supports increased transistor density while PowerVia is a power delivery and signal routing system to enable new device interconnect methods.
In July, Intel released its 18A Process Design Kit (PDK) 1.0, allowing electronic design automation (EDA) and intellectual property (IP) partners to update their tools and design flows, and enable customers to begin their final production designs.
“This is such an incredible moment for Intel and for our industry. In Intel 18A, we are pioneering multiple technologies that are essential to our customers and that will be a significant step toward bringing us back to process leadership,” said recently appointed SVP and general manager of Foundry Services, Kevin O’Buckley.
“We are pioneering multiple systems foundry technologies for the AI era and delivering a full stack of innovation that’s essential to the next generation of products for Intel and our foundry customers,” he added.
Intel has had a difficult 2024, with its foundry business having reported billions of dollars in losses over the past several quarters. Despite Intel Foundry seeing a year-on-year (YoY) revenue increase of four percent in Q2 2024, the business unit posted a loss of $2.8bn during the quarter, up from the $2.5bn operating loss it recorded during the first quarter of 2024.
Along with a company-wide net loss of $1.6 billion for Q2 2024, CEO Pat Gelsinger announced that Intel would be cutting more than 15,000 jobs as part of a $10bn cost-saving plan.
“This is an incredibly hard day for Intel as we are making some of the most consequential changes in our company’s history,” Gelsinger wrote in a note to employees after the second-quarter 2024 earnings were published.
