Intel has announced that they will be producing custom chips for fellow tech giant Microsoft, in a deal that would end up being worth over USD15 billion (~RM71.85 billion). The partnership will see Microsoft design being made using the Intel 18A process node, with further reports suggesting that this would be for Microsoft’s AI accelerators.
Under current Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, the blue tech giant has been growing its Intel Foundry Services division by quite a bit, having previously signed up the likes of Qualcomm and Amazon AWS and now Microsoft too. While neither Intel nor Microsoft confirmed what these future chips will be used for, Bloomberg has noted that this partnership comes just shortly after Microsoft had revealed plans to produce both their own in-house designed processor and AI accelerator. It’s the latter point that would be more important for Microsoft now, as the rise of AI means that the hardware needed for it is becoming more and more scarce.
“We are in the midst of a very exciting platform shift that will fundamentally transform productivity for every individual organization and the entire industry. To achieve this vision, we need a reliable supply of the most advanced, high-performance and high-quality semiconductors.
That’s why we are so excited to work with Intel Foundry, and why we have chosen a chip design that we plan to produce on Intel 18A process,” – Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO
As for the Intel 18A process node itself, Intel’s roadmaps had previously stated that it would begin production of it sometime next year. It’s part of Intel’s ambitious ‘five node in four years’ process roadmap which started off with the Intel 7 process node. This roadmap also sees Intel 4 already used in 14th Gen Meteor Lake mobile processors, while Intel 3 is mostly reserved for their server-grade Xeon products like Granite Rapids. Then there’s Intel 20A, which many expect will debut with the upcoming Arrow Lake family of processors. It’s after that then we find 18A, with Intel confident that this would put the company back on top in terms of process leadership in the industry. Intel also further revealed plans for Intel 14A, the next process node after 18A, that would appear sometime around 2027.
Microsoft today, AMD tomorrow?
It seems that Gelsinger isn’t keen to just stop at Microsoft though. During a Q&A session at an Intel Foundry Services event, Gelsinger stated that he would be happy to build chips for just about anyone, even for their rival AMD. Gelsinger even went further to say that he wants Intel to help build chips for everybody in the industry, be it NVIDIA, AMD, Google, Qualcomm and Amazon.
“We hope that that includes Jensen (Nvidia), Christiano (Qualcomm), and Sundar (Google), and you heard today it includes Satya (Microsoft), and I even hope that includes Lisa (AMD) going forward.
I mean, we want to be the foundry for the world, and if we’re going to be the Western foundry at scale, we can’t be discriminating about who’s participating in that. So, unequivocally, it is to be the foundry for the world. Commit supply chains, your leadership technology – the doors to the ala carte menu are wide open for the industry,” – Pat Gelsinger, Intel CEO
The Intel CEO then went on to also draw a line between Intel and their Intel Foundry division, noting that there’s a clear division between Intel products and their foundry business, with plans to set up a separate legal entity for Intel Foundry by the end of this year. Once that’s done, the foundry would have the simple clear objective of filling up their fabs and delivering them to as many customers as possible.
