Intel Atom deal with TSMC placed on hold

Almost a year and a half ago Intel announced a plan to manufacture Atom processors at TSMC to broaden support for the use of Atom chips in mobile devices like smartphones and other gadgets, but the pact hasn't really gone anywhere. The issue was raised at TSMC's investor conference last week, and chairman Morris Chang revealed that the deal remains on hold, but that there had been no news for the past six months.

ITworld decided to contact Intel for a response, and got to hear that there are no short-term plans to bring an Atom processor manufactured at TSMC to market.

The issue was raised at TSMC's investor conference last week, when analysts asked the company's chairman, Morris Chang, when the first Atoms would roll off TSMC production lines. He said the partnership with Intel remained on hold and that there had been no news for the past six months.

Intel indicated that the waiting will continue.

"While we have no short-term plans to bring an Atom processor manufactured at TSMC to market, the relationship remains in effect and we are still working with TSMC," said Intel spokesman Nick Jacobs.

The delay in the partnership may be due to a lack of success by Intel in convincing customers to use its Atom processing cores over Arm cores, which are more power efficient. The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that Intel may buy Infineon Technologies' communications unit, which includes Arm-based mobile chips, to beef up its product portfolio, a sign Atom may not be working out as Intel had hoped.