Intel Delays 7nm Chips, Considers Rival Foundries for Production
Intel faces a major setback as its 7nm process falls behind schedule, forcing the company to explore using outside foundries to fulfill critical government supercomputer contracts.
Intel reports strong second quarter sales of $19.7 billion, but investors push the stock down roughly 10 percent after the manufacturer reveals a significant production delay. The company's 7nm process node sits six months behind schedule, while its yield lags a full year behind internal targets. Consequently, PC processors relying on this advanced node do not hit the market until late 2022 or early 2023, and data-center processors arrive in the first half of 2023.
This manufacturing shortfall creates a serious problem for Intel's 7nm GPUs, codenamed Ponte Vecchio, which now slip to late 2021 or early 2022. The delay directly threatens Intel's commitment to deliver accelerators for the US government's $500 million Aurora exascale supercomputer. To meet this high-profile government contract, Intel indicates it may have to turn to external foundries to produce specific chiplets for its multi-die packages.
CEO Bob Swan suggests that Intel chips may eventually utilize a third-party manufacturing partner like TSMC to keep production on track. This potential shift marks a historic turning point for a company that historically designs and manufactures all of its own silicon. As Intel scrambles to fix its 7nm yield issues, the possibility of outsourcing chip production highlights the growing pressure the tech giant faces from competing foundries.