Intel 18A rumored to be Nvidia, Broadcom and other manufacturers orders
According to foreign media reports, Intel's upcoming mass production of the most sophisticated process process Intel 18A in the internal product adoption at the same time, but also will get including Nvidia (Nvidia), Broadcom (Broadcom), including several ASIC manufacturers OEM orders.
Reportedly, these manufacturers are working with Intel to develop products based on the Intel 18A node. Supply chain sources said these customers are optimistic about Intel 18A. This also indicates that Intel is expected to be a strong competitor to TSMC in the race for cutting-edge nodes.
As the main adopter of Intel 18A process, Intel plans to achieve “70% of the internal node adoption rate” in its products, which means that Intel's future products will rely more on internal manufacturing, rather than outsourcing more chips to TSMC foundry.
Intel's Nova Lake's compute cores won't be completely outsourced to TSMC, according to the projections, and Intel 18A may play a role in that, meaning Intel is confident in its in-house manufacturing.
On the external customer side, reports say that samples of chips based on the Intel 18A process are already being validated with partners, and so far the feedback remains positive. Intel is working with NVIDIA, Broadcom, Faraday Technology, IBM and several other partners to ensure that Intel 18A meets industry standards. It's clear that all of these customers are interested in the Intel 18A process. And, given that top tech giants like NVIDIA are looking to diversify their supply chains, it's natural to be happy with a partner like Intel that has large foundry capacity on U.S. soil.
According to previously announced information on Intel's website, the Intel 18A uses RibbonFET surround gate transistor (GAA) technology for precise current control, and also pioneers the industry's first PowerVia backside power supply technology, which can increase density and cell utilization by 5% to 10% and reduce resistive power drop, resulting in an increase in ISO power performance of up to 4%, and with front-side PowerVia power supply. Up to 4% improvement in ISO power performance and significantly lower intrinsic resistance (IR) drop compared to front-side power designs. The Intel 18A delivers a 15 percent increase in performance per watt and a 30 percent increase in chip density over the Intel 3 process node.
According to the plan, Intel 18A will be debuted by its PC processor Panther Lake, and server processor Clearwater Forest will also be adopted, which is expected to be released at the end of the year, and the relevant products will be available in 2026.