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6 Computer System

Intel began using its excess fab capacity to produce chips for other companies through its custom foundry division in 2013. By July 2013, five companies were using Intel's fabs for production, mostly FPGA makers. However, Intel closed its foundry business in 2018 due to manufacturing issues. Intel also faced security vulnerabilities like Meltdown and Spectre in its processors from 1995 onward and struggled to transition to its 10nm process node, falling behind competitors like AMD and losing market share as a result.

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26 views

6 Computer System

Intel began using its excess fab capacity to produce chips for other companies through its custom foundry division in 2013. By July 2013, five companies were using Intel's fabs for production, mostly FPGA makers. However, Intel closed its foundry business in 2018 due to manufacturing issues. Intel also faced security vulnerabilities like Meltdown and Spectre in its processors from 1995 onward and struggled to transition to its 10nm process node, falling behind competitors like AMD and losing market share as a result.

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iamshakha123
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Intel custom foundry[edit]

Finding itself with excess fab capacity after the failure of the Ultrabook to gain market traction and
with PC sales declining, in 2013 Intel reached a foundry agreement to produce chips for Altera using
a 14 nm process. General Manager of Intel's custom foundry division Sunit Rikhi indicated that Intel
would pursue further such deals in the future.[91] This was after poor sales of Windows 8 hardware
caused a major retrenchment for most of the major semiconductor manufacturers, except for
Qualcomm, which continued to see healthy purchases from its largest customer, Apple. [92]

As of July 2013, five companies were using Intel's fabs via the Intel Custom
Foundry division: Achronix, Tabula, Netronome, Microsemi, and Panasonic – most are field-
programmable gate array (FPGA) makers, but Netronome designs network processors. Only
Achronix began shipping chips made by Intel using the 22 nm Tri-Gate process.[93][94] Several other
customers also exist but were not announced at the time.[95]

The foundry business was closed in 2018 due to Intel's issues with its manufacturing. [96][97]

Security and manufacturing challenges (2016–2021)[edit]


Intel continued its tick-tock model of a microarchitecture change followed by a die shrink until the
6th-generation Core family based on the Skylake microarchitecture. This model was deprecated in
2016, with the release of the 7th-generation Core family (codenamed Kaby Lake), ushering in
the process–architecture–optimization model. As Intel struggled to shrink their process node from 14
nm to 10 nm, processor development slowed down and the company continued to use the Skylake
microarchitecture until 2020, albeit with optimizations.[20]

10 nm process node issues[edit]


While Intel originally planned to introduce 10 nm products in 2016, it later became apparent that
there were manufacturing issues with the node.[98] The first microprocessor under that node, Cannon
Lake (marketed as 8th-generation Core), was released in small quantities in 2018. [99][100] The company
first delayed the mass production of their 10 nm products to 2017.[101][102] They later delayed mass
production to 2018,[103] and then to 2019. Despite rumors of the process being cancelled,[104] Intel
finally introduced mass-produced 10 nm 10th-generation Intel Core mobile processors (codenamed
"Ice Lake") in September 2019.[105]

Intel later acknowledged that their strategy to shrink to 10 nm was too aggressive.[20][106] While other
foundries used up to four steps in 10 nm or 7 nm processes, the company's 10 nm process required
up to five or six multi-pattern steps.[107] In addition, Intel's 10 nm process is denser than its
counterpart processes from other foundries.[108][109] Since Intel's microarchitecture and process node
development were coupled, processor development stagnated.[20]

Security flaws[edit]
In early January 2018, it was reported that all Intel processors made since 1995,[110] excluding Intel
Itanium and pre-2013 Intel Atom processors, have been subject to two security flaws
dubbed Meltdown and Spectre.[111][112] It is believed that "hundreds of millions" of systems could be
affected by these flaws.[113][114] More security flaws were disclosed on May 3, 2018,[115] on August 14,
2018, on January 18, 2019, and on March 5, 2020.[116][117][118][119]

On March 15, 2018, Intel reported that it will redesign its CPUs to protect against the Spectre
security vulnerability, the redesigned processors were sold later in 2018.[120][121] Existing chips
vulnerable to Meltdown and Spectre can be fixed with a software patch at a cost to performance.[122]
[123][124][125]
Renewed competition and other developments (2018–present)[edit]
Due to Intel's issues with its 10 nm process node and the company's slow processor development,
[20]
the company now found itself in a market with intense competition.[126] The company's main
competitor, AMD, introduced the Zen microarchitecture and a new chiplet based design to critical
acclaim. Since its introduction, AMD, once unable to compete with Intel in the high-end CPU market,
has undergone a resurgence,[127] and Intel's dominance and market share have considerably
decreased.[128] In addition, Apple began to transition away from the x86 architecture and Intel
processors to their own Apple silicon for their Macintosh computers in 2020. The transition is
expected to affect Intel minimally; however, it might prompt other PC manufacturers to reevaluate
their reliance on Intel and the x86 architecture.[129][130]

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