Intel and United Microelectronics (UMC), Taiwan's second-largest chipmaker after TSMC, announced their first strategic partnership to produce 12nm processors jointly developed by the two companies.
The collaboration will focus on producing 12nm chips at Intel's three factories in Arizona starting in 2027; It represents an important step toward the United States' strategic goal of increasing the autonomy of microelectronics.
Intel Independent Systems (IFS) will produce 12nm chips in three production facilities at its facility in Ocotillo, Arizona: Fab 12, Fab 22, and Fab 32. Production will be in high volume and available to customers in the United States. The United States and abroad.
The advantage of 12nm is that it will be equipped with industrial design tools (EDA) and advanced design kits (PDK) to facilitate the chip manufacturing process for mobile communications and network infrastructure applications.
The three factories currently produce chips with a manufacturing precision of 14nm and 10nm, respectively. The advantage is that these chips use the same production tools, and Intel will also use many of these tools to produce 12nm chips.
Because 10nm and 14nm chips have been in production for many years, tools and facilities do not need to be replenished, so Intel can use many of these tools to produce 12nm chips to reduce additional financial costs and maximize performance benefits.
The plan is that Intel will slowly move these three factories from producing 14nm and 10nm chips to producing 12nm chips in 2027, making the total 12nm production volume cover the demand. Expected.
UMC will also introduce new technologies into Intel IFS that it does not currently have, such as RF and WiFi production technology, and UMC will also install state-of-the-art production tools at all three Intel factories.
Finally, Intel did not disclose the financial details of this strategic partnership between Intel and UMC.