What They Say
According to our friend, Dr. Jon Peddie, Intel’s new CEO, Pat Gelsinger, has rapidly set-out what is being called his “Integrated Device Manufacturing 2.0” (IDM 2.0) plan. Under the plan. the firm will start to act more as a foundry for other chip designers and will also expand its use of third party foundries. The partner foundries include: TSMC, Samsung, and GlobalFoundries. Starting in 2023, they’ll be producing “products at the core of Intel’s computing offerings” for both consumer and enterprise chips.
The newly announced Intel Foundry Services will see Intel offer manufacturing services to commercial customers.
Intel Foundry Services is a “standalone foundry business unit,” and it will develop x86, Arm, and RISC-V core chips for external clients using Intel’s manufacturing technology. Crucially, Intel is looking for government work (e.g., DARPA). Intel’s foundries will be located in the US and Europe, a benefit that competitors like TSMC don’t have. Partners include IBM, Qualcomm, Microsoft, Google, and more. Intel also announced a new R&D collaboration with IBM “focused on creating next–generation logic and packaging technologies.”
The firm will add two new fabs in Arizona, located at the company’s Ocotillo campus. These fabs will support the increasing requirements of Intel’s current products and customers, as well as provide committed capacity for foundry customers.
Intel also plans to expand its advanced chip manufacturing capacity outside the U.S. and will add 1,600 jobs at its Irish plant, one of the largest ever single job announcements by a multinational company in Ireland. A $7 billion investment in Ireland and Europe will more than double its available manufacturing space there.
The firm will also re-start its IDF event (under the Intel On re-brand) from October in San Francisco.
What We Think
Dr. Jon is very positive about this move. He said “Pat’s a tough character and doesn’t take no for an answer very easily. My money is on him.” I’ll go with him! (BR)
