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Comment by dev1ycan | Hacker News Reader

Man american companies sure love to over promise and under deliver, aren't they still stuck on 7nm? lol.

This horse is dead and disfigured, but here we go again.

Intel 4 (Intel "7nm" rebranding), is roughly equivalent to TSMC "3nm" in transistor density. By the transistor density metric, Intel is not way behind. There is no reason right now to think they can't deliver 10A/1nm in 2027.

It's worth noting that Intel 4 only barely exists (mobile only and slower than Intel 7). Intel still is saying that they will launch 20a by the end of the year, and 18a next year, but I will be pretty surprised if they6 timeline sticks

While Meteor Lake is likely to be the only product ever made with "Intel 4", the improved variant of "Intel 4" rebranded as "Intel 3" is expected to be launched later in this year in several kinds of server CPUs, i.e. Sierra Forrest, Granite Rapids and Granite Rapids D.

Moreover, "Intel 3" will also be used for some I/O or cache memory tiles even in some later Intel CPUs where the computing tiles will be made with denser processes like "Intel 18A".

For now, Meteor Lake with "Intel 4" is the first Intel product made with a process that has been developed after the change of CEO. It remains to be seen later this year, based on whether the planned server CPUs will be launched successfully, then by the end of the year also the first CPUs with big cores having the first new microarchitecture since 2021 (Arrow Lake, Arrow Lake S and Lunar Lake), if Pat Gelsinger has succeeded to restore Intel's competitivity.

Yeah, but the most advanced chips in Meteor Lake are TSMC chips still...3 of them (GPU, SoC, IOE at N5/6 node). Granted there are lots of comparisons saying TSMC N5 is Intel 7, etc...but when you actually come down to real life testing of power and

Intel 4 and 3 are transitional processes, but 75% or customers opt for 18A, that’s why they pushed for it and it may appear in volume sooner than older nodes, as the article noted:

Capacity for the Intel 4 and Intel 3 processes doesn't build as quickly as 20A/18A, but that isn't surprising — the majority of the company's wins for its third-party foundry business have been with the 18A node, which Intel says is according to plan

18A process is planned to be ready in the second half of this year, and Intel is sticking to it. 18A chips (Intel processors and GPUs) will appear next year

Intel 4 and 20A are clearly transitional processes that lack a full suite of transistor libraries and are thus unsuitable for many kinds of chips/chiplets. The lack of interest in Intel 3 may simply be that it sucks, and isn't worth taping out a chip on if 18A is as soon and as good as Intel promises.

It's weird how widespread this notion is, that TSMC has this colossal lead on the rest of the world that no one else can possibly catch up to. Yes, TSMC is ahead at the moment thanks in large part to the massive volume it is getting from cellphone CPUs. But the lead over Samsung and Intel is almost as small as the nanometers that all three companies are dealing with. IBM has gone fabless but still has some of the best chip designers in the world. Etc.

When Intel had the world's leading fabs, driven off massive volume in PC CPUs, I don't remember people being so emphatic about how insurmountable its technological lead over the rest of the world was. Yes, I know the geopolitical issues around TSMC bring it more attention, good and bad. But still.

Oh, there was plenty of guffawing and huffing in the Intel-centered community at the time. Remember when TSMC was lagged so far they started launching half nodes just to not be a "full node" behind? What comes around goes around, but for sure people will cheer for winners.

Why single out American?

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