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posted by martyb on Friday September 28 2018, @10:57PM   Printer-friendly
from the chip-ship-slip dept.

Intel Issues Update on 14nm Shortage, Invests $1B Into Fab Sites (Update)

Intel's CFO and interim CEO Bob Swan penned an open letter to its customers and partners today outlining the steps it is taking to address a persistent and worsening shortage of 14nm processors.

[...] The shortage impacts nearly every aspect of Intel's business, from desktops to laptops, servers and even chipsets, so Intel is making the sound business decision to prioritize high-margin products. The firm has also expanded its testing capacity by diverting some work to a facility in Vietnam.

[...] Intel's statement also assures us that processors built on its 10nm fabrication will arrive in volume in 2019. Intel had previously stated that 10nm processors would be available in 2019, but hadn't made the distinction that they would arrive in volume. That's a positive sign, as the oft-delayed 10nm production is surely a contributing factor to the shortage. Intel also cites the booming desktop PC market, which has outstripped the company's original estimates earlier this year, as a catalyst.

In either case, Intel concedes that "supply is undoubtedly tight, particularly in the entry-level of the PC market" but doesn't provide a firm timeline for when the processors will become fully available. Intel's letter also touts its $1 billion investment in 14nm fabs this year, but half of that capital expenditure was scheduled prior to its first public acknowledgement of the shortage. Given Intel's foresight into the production challenges, the prior $500 million investment was likely in response to the increases in demand and looming production shortfall.

Previously: Intel Migrates New Chipsets to "22nm" Node From "14nm"

Related: Intel's "Tick-Tock" Strategy Stalls, 10nm Chips Delayed
Intel's First 8th Generation Processors Are Just Updated 7th Generation Chips
Intel Delays Mass Production Of 10 nm CPUs To 2019


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  • (Score: 2) by RamiK on Saturday September 29 2018, @08:40AM (2 children)

    by RamiK (1813) on Saturday September 29 2018, @08:40AM (#741746)

    Don't forget the SoFIA cancellation (the real Atoms) mid circa 2016 and how they never recovered from that.

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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday September 29 2018, @01:43PM (1 child)

    by takyon (881) <{takyon} {at} {soylentnews.org}> on Saturday September 29 2018, @01:43PM (#741787) Journal

    I do rememeber that, but when you say "they never recovered from that", didn't they not have much smartphone/tablet business in the first place? And Intel chips are at least found in Windows Surface Pro tablets these days.

    https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/05/05/tablets_arent_coming_back/ [theregister.co.uk]
    https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/02/06/2017_tablet_market/ [theregister.co.uk]
    https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/15/idc_tablets_europe_q2_2018/ [theregister.co.uk]

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    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by RamiK on Saturday September 29 2018, @06:50PM

      by RamiK (1813) on Saturday September 29 2018, @06:50PM (#741873)

      Market wise, the surface tablets are just a windows laptop form factor since they serve the same use cases. What the pulling back from SoFIA meant wasn't just losing cellular market they never had. It meant they've stopped making another wafer for low-power mobile cores. It sounds inconsequential since those new always connected pcs aren't exactly selling like hot cakes... But what you're missing on is how those SoCs covered a bit more than consumer hardware: Bitcoin ASIC driving is done with ARM since the (rebranded mobile) Atom SoCs cost too much and eat too much power. Bank ATMs and the likes are also seeing ARM stepping in. Onboard computers for vehicles should have been Intel's as well if it wasn't for their lack of good cheap embedded cores. There's also the TV boxes / streamers / NASes that they should have easily owned if they only stayed around longer... It's all seems separate until you realize these are all chips Intel would have made using the same wafer and can't anymore because they canceled that effort and closed down/re-purposed those plants.

      It's why I laugh at those "Intel owns 99.9% of the server and desktop markets" statements. They keep pulling out of markets leaving it to their competition to rebrand as embedded or something. Take consoles for instance: How many billions we're talking about here? And didn't it just takeover PC gaming? Wasn't this most of the "shrinking PC market"? But they didn't have the capabilities to produce them so they gave up letting their marketers obscure their dwindling market dominance.

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