Posted on Monday, October 26 2020 @ 11:11 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
We still don't know details about the deal closed between Intel and Samsung, but there have been rumors and speculation for quite some time now that Intel will tap Samsung's production capacity for Xe. In the past, Intel did everything in-house, but these days the chip giant sees itself forced to look outside as not only its 10nm process but also its 7nm node is in trouble.
Intel has a contract to develop an exascale supercomputer at Argonne National Laboratory, called Aurora. That supercomputer is using Intel's CPUs and the company's upcoming Xe GPUs. Since the company has problems with manufacturing and has to deliver the products (it is bound by several contracts) to its contractors and customers, it decided to look at external manufacturers for its products, specifically Xe graphics. Being that Mr. Koduri tweeted an image of him visiting Samsung Giheung Fab in Korea, and now presenting at the Samsung Foundry event, it is possible that Intel will tap Samsung's semiconductor manufacturing process for its Xe GPU efforts and that Samsung will be the contractor in charge.
