Intel refused to port Ice Lake to 14nm++

The Motley Fool chip analyst Ashraf Eassa wrote an interesting article about a big mistake Intel made a couple of years ago. By now, the company's 10nm problems have become public knowledge but this is a topic that Eassa has been writing about for quite some time now.

In an exchange on Twitter, former Intel engineer François Piednoël revealed that the chip giant actually had the chance to port the Ice Lake architecture to 14nm++. Piednoël says he suggested this move two years ago, but his idea got rejected by upper management. The lack of this backup plan results in the current lackluster improvements, as the problems of Intel's manufacturing operations are holding processor design hostage.

What Piednoel is saying in the tweet I quoted above is that when management had the opportunity to start doing the work to bring their latest processor design, known as Ice Lake (abbreviated "ICL" in the tweet), they decided against doing so.

That was likely because management truly believed two years ago that Intel's 10nm manufacturing technology would be ready for production today. Management bet incorrectly, and Intel's product portfolio is set to suffer as a result.