TSMC to build factory for exclusive production of Intel chips on 3nm process

Intel is said to have signed a deal with TSMC to produce chips on the Taiwanese manufacturer’s 3nm process. According to DigiTimes, this is happening in a new fab to be built in Hsinchu.

The deal would be exclusive, DigiTimes writes. This means that TSMC’s new factory will exclusively produce chips for Intel. TSMC could produce 3nm chips for other parties in other factories. Details about the size of the deal are unknown. Intel and TSMC have not released any information about this themselves.

TSMC plans to start producing chips on the new N3 node for the 3nm process later this year. That should happen in the middle of the year and the first deliveries of 3nm chips should come early 2023. It will probably take longer to set up the new factory.

Intel has its own Intel 4 process on the roadmap for the second half of 2022. Products coming in 2023 will take advantage of that, such as the Meteor Lake processors for desktops. In the second half of 2023, the manufacturer wants to start production on its own Intel 3 node. Intel introduced a new naming convention for its nodes last year to more closely resemble those of TSMC and Samsung.

Earlier, there were rumors that Intel was planning to use TSMC’s 3nm process to produce server and laptop processors. Intel already has its Arc GPUs made by TSMC on a 6nm process. Those GPUs should be released in the first quarter of this year.