TSMC håner Intel, hævder overlegen chipteknologi i de kommende år

TSMC håner Intel, hævder overlegen chipteknologi i de kommende år

Tidsstempel: 20. oktober 2023 kl. 6
Kildeknude: 2945803

TSMC has delivered a hefty smackdown to Intel, claiming that its current 3nm chip production technology is as good as Intel’s plans for its 18A process in 2025.

Taler på a seneste selskabs indtjening opkald med investorer (via Tom's Hardware), TSMC CEO C.C. Wei said, “our internal assessment shows that our N3P technology demonstrated comparable PPA to 18A, my competitors’ technology.”

To decode that, “PPA” stands for Power Performance Area, indicating the three critical measures of chip achievement, namely how much power a chip uses, how much performance it delivers, and how small TSMC can make it. “N3P”, meanwhile, is one of several 3nm-class production nodes TSMC currently offers. Apple is already selling iPhones containing chips based on another 3nm-class TSMC node, known as N3B. “18A” meanwhile is Intel’s next-but-two node, due in 2025.

Intel sælger i øjeblikket CPU'er baseret på Intel 7 noden, som f.eks de seneste Raptor Lake-opdaterings-CPU'er, med Intel 4 forfalder inden længe i form af Meteor Lake mobile CPU'er og Intel 20A kommer i 2024. Intel siger, at 18A, som er en raffineret version af 20A, vil ankomme i 2025, hvorefter Intels CEO Pat Gelsinger hævder, at Intel vil have regained “unquestioned leadership” inden for chipproduktionsteknologi.

Nå, ikke ifølge TSMC, som mener, at dens eksisterende siliciumproduktion er lige så avanceret, som hvad Intel har planlagt for 2025. En smule kompliceret sammenligningen har Intel nogle ret eksotiske planer for sin 20A-node, især en funktion kaldet backside power delivery, som er siges at give mulighed for meget større transistortæthed.

TSMC isn’t planning to add backside power delivery until its second-iteration 2nm-class node in 2026, some two years after Intel. That will no doubt allow Intel to claim that it has, indeed, regained leadership. From a certain point of view.

Of course, C.C. Wei also said during the earnings call that TSMC’s 2nm technology would be superior to Intel 18A when it arrives in 2025, even without backside power delivery. So, both companies are positioning themselves as the clear market leader.

Samlet set ser det altså ud til, at det bliver et subjektivt opkald mellem TSMC og Intel i de kommende år om, hvem der har den mest avancerede produktionsteknologi. Det kan meget vel vise sig, at begge virksomheder ender med plausible krav på lederskab afhængigt af de tiltag, du går ind for.

Men den gode nyhed er, at begge virksomheder virker overbeviste om, at de kan fortsætte med at fremme kunsten at fremstille chip, og det burde betyde stadig hurtigere bits for vores pc'er. Hvad er det, der betyder noget, ikke?

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