According to Intel’s plans, next year will be launched 14 generation Meteor Lake series processors, will be the first Intel4 (7nm) process products.
From the information known so far, the new generation of CPUs uses a modular design that can be stacked with small chips of different processes, and then integrated with EMIB technology interconnection and Foveros packaging technology.
In other words, in addition to using Intel’s own Intel 4 process, it will also use modules made by TSMC (TSMC), rumored to be based on the N3 process.
According to TrendForce, although Intel has plans to outsource the tGPU chipset in Meteor Lake to TSMC, the product planning date has been delayed from the second half of this year to the end of next year for some reason, making the original 3nm production capacity scheduled for next year almost completely canceled, with only a small amount of chips remaining for engineering verification.
TrendForce said that this move has significantly impacted TSMC’s expansion plans, resulting in 3nm process from the second half of this year to next year the first wave of customers only Apple, products include M series chips and A17 Bionic chips. Therefore, TSMC has decided to slow down its expansion schedule to ensure that capacity will not be overly idle and lead to cost pressure.
TrendForce expects that the move will affect some of next year’s capital expenditure planning, resulting in TSMC’s capital expenditure scale next year may be lower than this year.
In addition to Intel, AMD, MediaTek, Qualcomm and others have been planning 3nm products for mass production in 2024. Meanwhile, Apple’s new iPhone processor in 2024 is also expected to fully import 3nm process, the above customers can improve TSMC’s 3nm capacity utilization and revenue performance in 2024.
TSMC denied slowing down its expansion plans and said that TSMC does not comment on business with individual customers, and that TSMC’s capacity expansion projects are proceeding according to plan. Intel said it would not comment on market rumors.
