Intel announced that it will cooperate with Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson to manufacture custom chips for its 5G network equipment.
As part of the agreement, Intel will also create highly differentiated leading products for Ericsson’s future 5G infrastructure, and will leverage Intel vRAN Boost for Ericsson Cloud RAN (Radio Access Network) solutions to optimize 4th generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors, helping communication service providers increase network capacity and energy efficiency, while gaining greater flexibility and scalability.
According to Intel, this 5G chip will be built based on Intel’s most advanced manufacturing technology, the Intel 18A process, which is the first time an external customer has used this technology.
Intel and Ericsson did not give a specific timetable, but Intel has previously stated that Intel 18A technology will be ready by 2025.
Intel has lost its lead in making advanced semiconductors to rivals such as Samsung and TSMC. An important plan announced by Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger in 2021 is to launch five generations of chip manufacturing processes within four years in order to regain the leading position and reverse the company’s current situation.
In a press release, Intel emphasized that the announcement signals confidence in 18A technology and underscores the progress Intel has made on its four-year, five-node roadmap in an effort to regain its technological leadership and restore its former glory.
Note: Intel18A is the most advanced process node on Intel’s four-year five-node roadmap, based on a new gate-around transistor architecture (RibbonFET) and back-end power transmission (PowerVia) technology.
Intel says it will deliver Ribbon architecture innovations and higher performance in 18A while continuing to reduce metal line widths. The combination of these technologies will allow Intel to regain leadership by 2025.
