Continued Momentum for Intel 18A

Intel 18A, Intel Foundry's leading-edge process node, is on track for production in 2025. With RibbonFET and PowerVia, foundry customers will unlock greater processor scale and efficiency to drive the future of AI computing forward. (Credit: Intel Foundry)

Intel 18A, Intel Foundry's leading-edge process node, is on track for production in 2025. With RibbonFET and PowerVia, foundry customers will unlock greater processor scale and efficiency to drive the future of AI computing forward. (Credit: Intel Foundry)

Intel 18A, Intel Foundry's leading-edge process node, is on track for production in 2025. With RibbonFET and PowerVia, foundry customers will unlock greater processor scale and efficiency to drive the future of AI computing forward. (Credit: Intel Foundry)

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Since releasing the Intel 18A Process Design Kit (PDK) 1.0 in July, we have seen positive response across our ecosystem and are encouraged by what we’re seeing from Intel 18A in the fab. It’s powered on and booting on operating systems, healthy, and yielding well – and we remain on track for launch in 2025.

One of the benefits of our early success on Intel 18A is that it enables us to shift engineering resources from Intel 20A earlier than expected as we near completion of our five-nodes-in-four-years plan. With this decision, the Arrow Lake processor family will be built primarily using external partners and packaged by Intel Foundry.

The journey to Intel 18A has been built on the groundwork laid by Intel 20A.

It enabled us to explore and refine new techniques, materials and transistor architectures that are crucial for advancing Moore’s Law. With Intel 20A, we successfully integrated both RibbonFET gate-all-around transistor architecture and PowerVia backside power delivery for the first time, and these learnings have directly informed the first commercial implementation of both technologies in Intel 18A. This points to the iterative nature of semiconductor innovation, and we’re excited to bring these advancements to all Intel Foundry customers.

Focusing resources on Intel 18A also helps us optimize our engineering investments. When we set out to build Intel 20A, we anticipated lessons learned on Intel 20A yield quality would be part of the bridge to Intel 18A. But with current Intel 18A defect density already at D0 <0.40, the economics are right for us to make the transition now.

Forward-Looking Statements

Ben Sell is vice president of Technology Development at Intel Corporation.

This post contains forward-looking statements regarding Intel’s process technology and product roadmaps that involve many risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied, including those associated with: the high level of competition and rapid technological change in our industry; the complexities and uncertainties in developing and implementing new semiconductor products and manufacturing process technologies; and other risks and uncertainties described in our 2023 Form 10-K and other filings with the SEC. All information in this post reflects management’s expectations as of the date of this release, unless an earlier date is specified. We do not undertake, and expressly disclaim any duty, to update such statements, whether as a result of new information, new developments, or otherwise, except to the extent that disclosure may be required by law.