Rumor: Intel won’t let Samsung make 14nm processors, but will make other chips

Intel would not negotiate with Samsung about the production of processors but about making other chips, such as possible chipsets. That is what Tom’s Hardware claims, which nuances and partly refutes a rumor from a Korean site.

Tom’s Hardware has heard from a source “in the know” that there are indeed negotiations between Intel and Samsung about producing chips. However, it would not be about the production of 14nm processors, as the Korean SEDaily claimed on Tuesday, but about other chips. It is not known which production process is involved.

For example, it could be chipsets, speculates Tom’s Hardware. According to the site, that would make more sense because they are less complex than processors and Intel was forced to return to its 22nm production for a chipset last year. The latter was the case because 14nm production was approaching its limit in terms of chip quantities. As a result, shortages arose.

The message from SEDaily talked about a production start of 14nm processors by the end of 2020 by Samsung. According to Tom’s Hardware, that is highly questionable because it takes years for chip designs of large processors to be ready for nodes and Intel would also expose its designs to a competitor. Moreover, Samsung’s 14nm node is not equivalent to that of the American chip giant. Intel is working to make its processor designs suitable for production on various processes, but that would only happen with the Sunny Cove architecture, which debuts at 10nm.