2024-02-22 10:35:00
Intel announced, on Wednesday (21), during the Direct Connect event, a new billion-dollar deal to produce chips designed by Microsoft. Estimated at more than US$15 billion, the investment is in line with the expansion strategy of both companies in the field of Artificial Intelligence, which promises to grow exponentially in the coming years.
Although they do not reveal which chips will be involved, it is reported that the agreement foresees the use of “Intel 18A” lithography, which will be an evolution of “Intel 20A” (2 nanometer class). The expectation is that these technologies will be mass-produced from 2025, guaranteeing an important leap in performance and efficiency in relation to current Intel processes.
During the talk by Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel, Microsoft President and CEO Satya Nadella stated that his company is working on a new hardware design, but did not reveal details regarding how it will be used.
We are in the midst of a very exciting platform shift that will fundamentally transform the productivity of each individual organization and the entire industry. To achieve this vision, we need a reliable supply of the most advanced, high-performance, high-quality semiconductors. That’s why we’re so excited to work with Intel Foundry, and why we chose a chip design that we plan to produce on the Intel 18A process.
Satya Nadella
CEO from Microsoft
Considering that the Intel Foundry event — Intel’s semiconductor foundry arm — focused on the “era of Artificial Intelligence”, it is possible that the mysterious hardware is related to data centers of Microsoft, which would be investing in ways to reduce its dependence on NVIDIA to offer AI processing and training services.
One of the bets is the Azure Maia 100, a line of artificial intelligence accelerators that would work in synergy with the 128-core Cobalt 100 processors, based on Arm, which will be integrated into Microsoft Azure data centers.
Signing an agreement with one of the companies at the forefront of artificial intelligence services is a fundamental step for Intel, which aims to become the second largest foundry in the world by 2030, taking over the position currently occupied by Samsung. Pat Gelsinger has already expressed interest in attracting other industry giants, including NVIDIA and AMD.
Economy and market
21 Fev
Rumors
26 Jan
Between the lines of the conference, Intel reinforced its commitment to the evolution of its lithographs. The company has introduced an updated schedule that foresees the launch of a process called “14A”, which will be the successor generation of the “18A” process. This technology is expected to debut in mid-2027.
After “recycling” the 10 nanometer lithography for three generations of processors, the manufacturer promised to introduce five processes in four years, and the first fruit of this promise is the “Intel 4” process, used in chips for notebooks in the “Meteor Lake” family. .
Arriving at the end of the year with the launch of the “Arrow Lake” chips, the “Intel 20A” lithography should be the next big technological leap for the brand’s products, and to complete its goal, the “Intel 18A” should be ready for manufacturing in mass at the end of 2024.
See more!
1708618236
#Intel #signs #agreement #Microsoft #manufacture #custom #chips #18A #lithography
