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Intel plans to kick off chip production in 2027 utilizing a 10A process, as revealed during a presentation at its IFS Direct Connect event. The company also shared that production on the previously announced 14A process is slated to begin in 2026.
The introduction of Intel's 10A process was disclosed for the first time in a private presentation reported by Tom's Hardware, who was in attendance at IFS Connect. Production using the 10A process is expected to commence towards the end of 2027. The numerical value of 10A corresponds to 10 angstroms, equivalent to 1nm. Intel CEO Keyvan Esfarjani detailed the projected number of weekly wafer starts for different processes during the presentation. It was revealed that initial production on the 10A wafers will kick off by the end of 2027, albeit in limited quantities.
In addition, production using the 14A process, which was previously announced, is set to start in 2026 and will be ramped up in 2027. This will mark the first instance of Intel utilizing high-NA-EUV machines from ASML in its manufacturing process. The advancements in EUV lithography with a higher numerical aperture (NA) allow for finer resolutions, facilitating the production of smaller transistors. While Intel did not provide a specific start date for 14A production last week, the company did confirm that an enhanced 14A-E node would be introduced in 2027.
Furthermore, Intel announced its plans to enhance production capacity for advanced packaging, utilizing techniques such as EMIB and the Foveros family to integrate multiple chips or chiplets into a unified whole. These packaging methods are primarily applied in the production of AI accelerators like Nvidia's H100 and AMD's Instinct MI300 chips. The current bottleneck lies in packaging capacity, leading to rumors that Nvidia may transition some of its production to Intel's packaging facilities due to insufficient capacity from their main supplier, TSMC.
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