If i understand it right, Intel basically develops its Semiconductors in the same way everybody else does nowadays.
This sentence is so vague as to be meaningless. Perhaps
something an economist might say. In the "same way"? Yes
Intel uses silicon as the starting point like everyone else. :-P
The fact is Intel spends billions per year on development of
processes specifically and exclusively optimized for making
high performance microprocessors at low unit cost. Because
of its high volumes it does not use expensive process tricks
like SOI or extraneous layers of metal to provide MPU value
added that can be extracted instead with highly intensive
circuit and physical design optimization for each device.
For example it is well known that copper provides better
signal propagation than aluminum. What is less well known
is that the physical design of wires (width, separation,
shielding, arrangement with other signals etc) also has a
strong determinant effect on signal propagation. The more
effort you expend on the physical optimization of critical
nets the faster you can make them. So the truth really is
that copper improves wire performance for an constant
amount of design engineering effort. When Intel delayed
going to copper and stuck with aluminum at 180 nm it was
perceived as a major handicap. The reality was Intel was
experimenting with copper interconnect at 180 nm but it
determined that equivalent performance could obtained
for an aluminum implementation of the PIII as a coppper
one for a specific level of extra engineering effort. Given
the volumes of devices that Intel can amortize that NRE
over it was cheaper for Intel to stick with aluminum for one
more process generation and spend more effort on MPU
optimization.
Sure Intel could have had even faster products if it had
done both - copper *and* more intensive engineering.
The simple fact is none of its competitors could do afford
the latter so it was at no competitive disadvantage in
staying with aluminum at 180 nm. So instead Intel made
competitive chips in aluminum at 180 nm and mountains
of profits for its shareholders.
Keep this story in mind when you contemplate Intel vs the
rest of the industry in terms of process development and
product competitiveness.
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
