Earlier this year, there were rumors that Intel might choose Samsung to process its 14nm Rocket Lake PC CPUs. Not long after, sources said that the negotiations between the two companies were coming to an end.
A new report from South Korean media shows that Samsung has finally won a 14nm processor contract for Intel. The deal comes at a time when Intel seems to be having difficulty meeting demand for 14nm CPUs and this has also caused production delays for desktop 10nm CPUs.
Intel's difficulties are advantage for Samsung
Since the second half of this year, Intel has had difficulty in addressing a 14nm CPU shortage. Things got so bad that Intel Vice President Michelle Johnston Holthaus even wrote a letter of apology for the shortage last week. He said PC market growth this year was " faster than our efforts. " Intel also said it is increasing the use of outside chip makers to increase CPU production to double digits.
One of the problems Intel faces is this because it has invested too much in setting up new lines and upgrading existing lines for 10nm chip production. However, it will take several years for Intel to expand them. In the meantime, Intel still has to continue supplying 14nm chips to the market, so the company needs to make up the production capacity gap with outside outsourcing firms.
However, there are not many companies on this playground. TSMC and Samsung are currently the two largest companies in this field. But Intel was concerned about TSMC when it was processing chips for AMD, its biggest rival.
Samsung's new chip factory.
That is probably one of the reasons why Samsung was chosen to produce their 14nm CPU. Their manufacturing capacity is large enough to meet Intel's needs and this may be the other reason why they choose Samsung.
Of course, Samsung will gain a lot of benefits from this deal. The company is currently looking for new growth drivers as its income from memory chips is declining. The company is also about to invest about US $ 100 billion in non-memory chips from now until 2030. They even expect to produce Qualcomm's Snapdragon 865 chipset.
But it is unlikely that the agreement between Samsung and Intel will be officially confirmed in the media – rarely such business deals are publicly disclosed. However, when TSMC is out of the game, as it is in charge of AMD's entire production of CPUs and 7nm GPUs, Samsung will be the most sensible choice for Intel at the moment.
If the source from Korean media is accurate, Samsung has won a chip processing contract for Intel.
Refer to SamMobile