Intel Corp (INTC)

[alan81]

Where are the new 7nm factories?
D1X is outputting functional 7nm product. We have seen demonstrations of such. Fab 42 is making some volume of 10nm and will switch to 7nm when it is ready. Ireland is under construction and expected to produce 7nm product in 2022, and Israel along with the 2 new AZ foundries are pretty much dirt right now.

The low power version of TSM 5 exists. Genoa is on the HP (High performance) version, which is just now entering production. I don't think there are any products available yet that use this node.

All the references to INTC xnm = 1/2 TSM nm
I have never heard that... When we look at things like SRAM cell size, and transistor density we see something like:
TSMC 7nm is about the same as INTC 10nm
TSMC 5nm is a expected to be a little worse than INTC 7nm. TSMC 5 is around 175M transistors/mm, while INTC 7nm ups this to around 200.

The expectation is TSMC 3nm is about the same as INTC 5nm, but we have no data on either process.

Raises the question, why they (Intel) don't fix 10nm first??
A pretty good question, but it is important to note that INTC 10nm is the last intel DUV process and is very complex with very long throughput times. INTC 7nm is their first EUV process, and is greatly simplified from their 10nm process and will have a substantially faster throughput time. The downside is more complex and more expensive capital for 7nm.
Many of the layers on the INTC 10nm process (and the TSMC 7nm) require four passes through lithography. With the newer EUV steppers this is reduced to a single pass.

We should hear more at the INTC press conference on July 26. Interesting that they scheduled this for just a few days after the Q2 earnings call.
Alan