Washington [US], May 2: The fact that Intel is taking new steps to develop the chip industry ecosystem not only helps the corporation redraw the global chip supply chain map, but also has important implications for the United States.
In the midst of facing many difficulties, in order to aim to become the world's second-largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by 2030, Intel is looking to achieve important breakthroughs.
Intel's Weapons
Not only is it commercializing the Intel 18A process (equivalent to the 1.8 nm process) right this year, Intel is also aiming to produce a new variant of 18A-P from 2026, then produce the Intel 14A process chip (equivalent to the 1.4 nm process) from 2027. To achieve this goal, which is considered a revolution in the semiconductor chip manufacturing industry, Intel plans to introduce a new type of advanced chip manufacturing tool, a high-aperture photolithography machine (EUV high-NA).
Using the latest high-NA EUVs could help Intel create chips with fewer steps, with high performance. This is also a reversal of one of Intel's major strategic mistakes in the 2010s, when the company refused to use EUV earlier, while TSMC (Taiwan) promoted EUV. Not only is it reversing to correct old mistakes, Intel may be ahead of rival TSMC because Taiwan has not yet revealed when it will use EUV high-NA to mass-produce chips.
Intel is also strengthening its 3nm process semiconductor chip group through Intel 3, which is a new step forward for Intel 4 (4 nm process) with 18% higher performance. Along with promoting the production of advanced chips, Intel also promotes the production platform of "mature nodes". These are chips with less advanced processes, but are being widely used in many technological electronic devices. In particular, the Intel 16 process according to FinFET technology uses 3D design for chips with a 16 nm process with greater performance. Intel has also partnered with UMC (Taiwan) to accelerate the production of 12 nm process chips combined with FinFET expertise to expand chip products for mobile devices, wireless connectivity and networking technologies.
Thus, Intel is perfecting a diverse ecosystem of chip production to meet the maximum needs of today's technology equipment market. This ecosystem also includes packaging chips for high performance. Since 2019, Intel has applied the Foveros-S 2.5D chip packaging standard and plans to move to the Foveros-S 2.5D standard from 2027 to optimize the structure of the chip.
America's Strength
Currently, TSMC, Samsung (South Korea) and Intel (US) are the 3 largest chip manufacturers in the world. In which, TSMC leads and occupies nearly 70% of the market, followed by Samsung and finally Intel. At the same time, Intel is the only American company in the top three.
Meanwhile, global trade uncertainties are causing world supply chains to change. In such a context, with an essential sector such as the semiconductor industry today, supply chain autonomy is vital for many countries, especially the United States, which is in a tense trade war with China. Over the years, TSMC has played an important role in the global chip supply chain. To hedge risks, the US has attracted TSMC to open a factory in the country. However, it is still difficult for the US to fully control TSMC. Taiwan recently passed a law to keep the most advanced technology in the territory, not transfer it to other places, including the United States.
Therefore, Intel plays an even more important role for the United States in autonomously owning the ecosystem of the semiconductor chip supply chain, especially advanced chips. So the strategy of the Intel chip empire is playing a role in comprehensively connecting corporations in the semiconductor industry ecosystem and more broadly, the overall high-tech sector of the United States.
Currently, Intel has formed a cooperation network with many American technology corporations such as: Synopsys, Cadenca, Amazon (web services), Microsoft Azura (Microsoft's cloud computing), Google Cloud (Google's cloud computing), IBM Cloud (IBM's cloud computing), Ansys... Or even a name in the US chip industry, Qualcomm, has also represented the Intel Foundry Direct Connect event, because in fact, if Intel's chip foundry segment (Intel Foundry) is highly competitive, it will become a prominent choice for Qualcomm, which is dependent on TSMC for chip production.
Therefore, Intel's strategy for chip production is not only important for this corporation but also has great significance for the United States in the current context.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
