Replies to post #120181 on Intel Corp (INTC)

[Golfbum]

This is really unbelievable. A three year agreement covering 10nm.

TSMC may never get to 10nm, much less in three years. End of the decade perhaps.

gb

[wbmw]

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and its IC design service partner Global UniChip have secured a three-year agreement with Apple to supply foundry services for the next A-series chips built using 20nm, 16nm and 10nm process nodes, according to industry sources.

There's a lot of roadmap details here. I'm sure Apple won't be pleased.

- A8 chips for iPhone 5 successor, based on 20nm: tapeout Jul'13, volume production: early 2014

- A9/A9X chips for newer-generation iPhone and iPad, based on 16nm FinFET / 20nm backend: Q3'14

- A three year agreement puts them in 2016 for the 10nm node - back to a 2-year cadence

Seems a little "off" to be expecting volume production of FinFET only 2 quarters after initial 20nm designs. TSMC has not blinked from their aggressive schedules. Is it a breakthrough, or a game of chicken?

[RGood]

Man oh Man,
I told you guys that Tim Cook ficken hates INTC with a passion.
Tim Cook is bad news for INTC.
Good thing is - he has no charisma or much of a vision for the company's future.
I am a little shocked at how gullable he is with TSMC promising the world in three years - 10nm. Seems that Tim Cook forgot about the train wreck they had at 32nm.
Wonder how he is gonna feel when they train again trying to get 10nm in 3 years.
If Tim wasn't hell bent on screwing INTC - he would have been wiser to sign the deal for say 1 or 2 nodes. Odds are not good for TSMC's credibility right now.

Ronster