Intel bet big on its 18A process, but things didn’t always go well. Massive investment in the foundry sector and the announcement of worrying financial results got the better of former CEO Pat Gelsinger. However, it seems that this gamble is beginning to pay off… At least, it’s starting to pay off. Indeed, initial feedback points to a high-performance process offering a significant reduction in consumption and an interesting gain in performance.
18A: sharp reduction in consumption and improved performance!
Thanks to the use of new technologies such as RibbonFET transistors and PowerVias, the Blues have managed to improve density by 30% compared with the Intel 3 process. What’s more, we’re talking about a 25% improvement in speed while offering a 36% reduction in power consumption at a voltage of 1.1V, all on a sub-block of ARM cores. What’s more, we can expect greater efficiency thanks to a better-controlled V drop, as can be seen in the document shared by @Harukaze5719 on X. We therefore expect chips etched using this process to be more stable.
Finally, early feedback suggests a process capable of competing with TSMC’s N2. And let’s not forget that, as time goes by, yields will improve, which should enable the Blues to etch for third-party customers. In the meantime, we know that the company’s first processors to use this process will be Panther Lake and Xeon Clearwater Forest. All this is expected by 2026.
