Analyst: Intel may not use EUV until late 2021

Posted on Friday, August 31 2018 @ 10:36 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
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Susquehanna analyst Mehdi Hosseini notes Intel has effectively lost its manufacturing leadership. The company is struggling mightily with its 10nm process and has also ceded its leadership position in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography.

The chip giant was one of the first firms to start EUV development in the late 1990s, but now it will be years behind Samsung and TSMC. The latter two are expected to deploy EUV in 2019, while EUV in Intel's 7nm node remains an open question. Bernstein analyst Mark Li predicts Intel may not insert EUV into its manufacturing technology until late 2021, as the firm may be biding its time until EUV is more mature. It's an unproven technology, but EUV is a necessity as traditional immersion lithography is running against the limits of what is physically possible.
TSMC will be able to bring EUV to mass production in the second half of 2019 as many customers, including mobile, GPU and cryptocurrency miners, are interested in 7nm+, Li said.

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“TSMC appears to be winning most of the leading-edge design wins due to better 7nm process technology performance, lower power consumption and better area density,” he told EE Times. “TSMC’s 7nm is expected to account for more than 20 percent of the company’s revenue in the December quarter as the customer mix includes more than 50 different product tapeouts for diverse applications including APs, GPUs, server CPUs, network processors and FPGAs.”


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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