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Intel's new CEO, Pat Gelsinger, has wasted no time. While he won't accept over from Bob Swan until February, he'due south already addressed Intel's workforce in an all-easily meeting.

According to The Oregonian, Intel told assembled employees that it might expect to denote whatever change to its manufacturing plans until Gelsinger is onboard. This is an interesting wrinkle to the overarching manufacturing situation, and information technology implies that Intel wants a CEO with an engineering background to examine the situation and possibly brand the decision. And then again, the Oregonian reports Intel "may" postpone a decision, not that it would, and so the issue may still be under discussion.

Intel has pledged to determine the future of its manufacturing plans for next-generation chips before those CPUs would demand to be in production by 2023. That'due south the approximate engagement by which we'd look 7nm CPUs to be in-market.

Currently, Intel is focused on Alder Lake and Rocket Lake. The erstwhile is Intel's upcoming hybrid platform that will offer upward to 16 cores with as many as eight full-sized CPU cores and eight low-ability cores. There are rumors that nosotros may see Intel striking some unusual thread counts here by supporting Hyper-Threading on the big cores but not the small ones.

Rocket Lake is Intel's upcoming desktop platform that'due south still congenital on 14nm but uses an updated microarchitecture based on last twelvemonth'southward Water ice Lake mobile processors. Chipzilla has indicated Rocket Lake should deliver upward to a ane.19x IPC improvement over and above Comet Lake.

Intel hasn't officially revealed its 7nm product line, but the rumor manufacturing plant believes it's called Meteor Lake. At CES this calendar week, Intel showed Alder Lake running in a laptop, implying it'll be a mobile-first architecture. Alder Lake presumably comes to desktops in 2022, which clears the mode for Meteor Lake in 2023. If Intel is building this chip in its ain fabs, we can expect it to debut on 7nm. If it uses TSMC or licenses a TSMC process in its own factories, it might opt for 5nm or perchance 3nm depending on TSMC's own engineering ramp and node progress.

Intel tin postpone that decision for a month or ii, but it takes fourth dimension to either implement another foundry's procedure node or to pattern a chip specifically at TSMC. Whatever Intel is going to do, it has to beginning doing it soon.

Intel vs. 'A Lifestyle Company'

Intel is taking the threat of Apple'due south M1 very seriously. Gelsinger is said to take told employees, "Nosotros accept to deliver better products to the PC ecosystem than whatsoever possible affair that a lifestyle company in Cupertino. We have to be that good, in the future."

It's skillful to see Intel taking the M1 seriously. Apple'southward M1 chip hit the marketplace like a bomb. While we're happy to acknowledge that there are even so a lot of questions virtually how Apple tree's CPUs will compare with x86 across the width and breadth of the software market, the SoC is very good at what it does. Calling Apple tree a "lifestyle company" nether these circumstances is a definite shot across the bow. Alder Lake should be the appropriate indicate of comparing for whatever college-operation Mx CPU Apple tree debuts, and then we'll find out with that flake if Intel's blowing is justified or non.

It'll be very interesting to see what kind of mobile power consumption benefits Intel can extract from Alder Lake's hybrid computing architecture, and nosotros do expect Intel to continue improving x86 performance. Gelsinger'south attitude, however, is the right i. Both Intel and AMD need to respond to ARM'due south encroachment with everything they've got, or adventure x86's long-term prominence in the desktop and laptop market place. AMD has its own Ryzen 5000 mobile fries coming this yr, with the expected ane.19x IPC uplift we've already seen on desktop chips. For now, Apple tree is the only company with an SoC that will realistically compete with either x86 company, just that could change in the futurity, depending on how the two manufacturers answer.

Now Read:

  • Report: Intel Will Build DG2 at TSMC on 'Enhanced' 7nm Node
  • Intel Urged to 'Explore Alternatives' to Manufacturing Its Own Chips
  • Intel Announces 7nm Delays, May Use External Foundries For Future CPUs