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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
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Saturday September 29 2018, @02:49PM
If by Linux desktop you mean the Gnu/Linux one and not the "My desktop is now just an Android Tablet! Woo Hoo! It's almost as good as a real computer! I don't miss useful technology very much at all!" variety, as is often meant by the phrase, then the year with the strongest adoption so far* was probably 2015, coinciding with the release of Windows 10 as the One True Microsoft Operating System. People had to choose between complete Microsoft control of their digital lives (forced phone-home monitoring, forced updates, forced upgrades, forced installs, forced uninstalls, forced configuration options, shut up citizen we know what's best for
our bottom lineyou), and going with a different operating system.I know people talk about "Wintel" as if the Windows market position and the Intel market position are related, but Windows will run on Not-Intel chips, and of course many Not-Windows operating systems are targeted for Intel chips. I love a good conspiracy theory, but I think the reason for Intel's being slow on the smaller-microparts uptake is that more people got fed up with trying to do actual work on phones and tablets, and went back to real computers, than Intel expected, and they are experiencing a period of short supply while they catch up. Any nefarious, evil things that Intel is currently planning or doing are probably separate issues.
Anyway, many (though bewilderingly, I don't think most) of the people who have the technological knowhow** to do so decided to switch to free software operating systems around that time, the majority of which are based on Linux. (That "many people" is a fraction of a percent of the market. I think Microsoft could program Windows 10 to actually murder people via electrocution at random and their userbase would complain and grumble about it but still fall in line.)
As time marches on, and the user-monitoring and forced-choices become more and more intrusive, there should be a steady trickle*** of migration away from Windows and towards free operating systems, again most of which are based on Linux.
* Unverified statistic based on idle thought. Makes sense to me, though. I know that I personally removed Windows from the last computer in my home office in 2015.
** The ability to post to social media while driving a vehicle with manual transmission in heavy traffic does not constitute "technological knowhow", sorry.
*** Well, actually, analyzing the situation, there should be a mass exodus away from operating systems that have deliberate malicious misfeatures, given that free options exist that respect the user. But those options still need poilish (whether the reader personally admits it or not) to be widely acceptable, for a variety of reasons, and the manpower and creativeness to polish them is apparently still running Mac or Windows. Chicken and egg problem.