Intel Says 10nm Chip Development is On Track

[MacRumors]

Responding to claims earlier this morning that it had ended development on its 10nm "Cannon Lake" processors, Intel announced on Twitter that it is "making good progress" on its upcoming 10nm chips.

The announcement followed a claim from SemiAccurate suggesting Intel had killed off its 10nm process. Intel's 10nm chips were supposed to launch at some point in 2016, but have been delayed multiple times due to production difficulties.

According to Intel, yields on its 10nm process are improving "consistent with the timeline" shared during the last earnings report, which means sans additional delays, the chips will come out in 2019.

Media reports published today that Intel is ending work on the 10nm process are untrue. We are making good progress on 10nm. Yields are improving consistent with the timeline we shared during our last earnings report. - Intel News (@intelnews) October 22, 2018

Apple uses Intel chips in its line of Mac desktops and notebooks, and Intel's delays have caused problems for the Cupertino-based company in recent years.

As a result, Apple is said to be planning to transition away from Intel chips to its own custom-designed chips as soon as 2020 or 2021, using supplier TSMC as a manufacturer.

With custom-designed Mac chips, Apple will no longer be forced to delay updates due to Intel's manufacturing issues, and custom chips will give the company more control over design, better profits, and a way to differentiate its products from competing PCs.

Apple has long used Apple-designed A-Series chips in its iOS devices, and the marriage between hardware and software often results in performance that is unmatched by competing products. Similar gains could come when Apple has more control over Mac chip design as well.

Apple won't be ready to transition to its own chips by 2019, and will likely adopt the 10nm Cannon Lake chips from Intel provided those chips make their launch date. Cannon Lake chips will bring performance improvements, reduced power consumption, and support for faster, more efficient LPDDR4 RAM.

Article Link: Intel Says 10nm Chip Development is On Track

 

[Andres Cantu]

Consistent with the timeline, yeah, 10nm was supposed to be out two years ago. Don’t forget that, Intel.

 

[DNichter]

Too little, too late. Time to move on from Intel.

 

[Baymowe335]

Glad they are working on getting 2 year old tech to market.

Meanwhile, TSMC is working on 5nm.

 

[EugW]

So, MAYBE 2020 will bring Thunderbolt Ice Lake MacBooks.

 

[magicschoolbus]

Intel says.. FAKE NEWS

 

[Bornee35]

Rumour has it they will be released alongside the Airpower

 

[rjohnstone]

Seriously Intel?
TSMC and Samsung already have 7nm chips in production and working in 5nm.

 

[thering1975]

on track lol, if they define on track based on the brexit timeline then i guess they are lol

 

[StralyanPithecus]

Intel is not gonna cry by loosing Apple, is a very small customer for them...as a former Intel eng. I know the hardship of building x64 architecture chips on anything smaller than 12 nm. We are talking about playing with single atoms almost...
[doublepost=1540230559][/doublepost]

Seriously Intel?
TSMC and Samsung already have 7nm chips in production and working in 5nm.

arm architecture, simpler than x64. That kind of architecture Intel is able to fit in 5 nm long time ago...It's not the same to build a car than a big commercial plane.

 

[cube]

Glad they are working on getting 2 year old tech to market.

Meanwhile, TSMC is working on 5nm.

TSMC 7nm is comparable to Intel 10nm. That arrived this year.

 

[brofkand]

Intel's delays are not why Apple isn't updating Macs as much anymore.

 

[jecowa]

Every year, "it's coming out next year".

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Full Windows 10 can run on ARM... if Apple switches macOS to ARM, I suspect there's going to be an avalanche of support for ARM rather than Intel behind that... does Intel have a future at that point?

How are servers going for Intel? I'd imagine ARM is making some inroads there and is going to accelerate if macOS goes ARM.

 

[wallysb01]

Such negativity. ARM is one thing, full fledge desktop processors are another. I for one will not cheer the day Apple moves its computer line to ARM (if that actually ever happens).

 

[CmdrLaForge]

Yeah finally. I am wondering if it would be a good move to buy one of the last Macs with Intel CPU and use that for years to come until the transition woes are sorted out.

 

[pika2000]

And people wonder why Apple is trying its hardest to develop its own chip.

Remember the switch from PowerPC to intel. At that time, the intel Core chips were a huge jump from PowerPC in terms of performance per watt. The subsequent jump was Haswell, where we finally get great battery life with notebooks. I'd argue the subsequent jump was the m3/m5 chips, where we finally have true reliable chips without fans. But after that, nothing. In fact, now Apple has a similar problem it faced with powerPC with intel, facing the thermal limit of intel chips.

It might not be intel's fault at all. It's just the way technology progresses. With Apple keep sharpening their skills on their own silicone, I can't wait what Apple can unleash if they decided to really put their own chips in Macs.

 

[now i see it]

Gotta remember that Intel is unquestionably one of the most advanced chip makers in the world. Granted, TSMC got to 7nm first, but no one can deny that Intel is cutting edge.
That being the case, and their difficulties in mass producing a 10nm chip, this only goes to show that silicon chip production is approaching the limits of physics. Sure, some day there will maybe be a 5nm chip, but we've been warned plenty of times that the wall is near. You can't keep shrinking stuff down forever.

 

[CWallace]

Well the article from SemiAccurate notes that it is a 10nm process that Intel had proposed that has been scrapped, so the two reports are not in themselves discongruous. Intel could be moving to a different 10nm process for Cannon Lake...

 

[cube]

Well the article from SemiAccurate notes that it is a 10nm process that Intel had proposed that has been scrapped, so the two reports are not in themselves discongruous. Intel could be moving to a different 10nm process for Cannon Lake...

There were reports before that Intel dialed back the 10nm specs.

 

[SoN1NjA]

Intel is not gonna cry by loosing Apple, is a very small customer for them...as a former Intel eng. I know the hardship of building x64 architecture chips on anything smaller than 12 nm. We are talking about playing with single atoms almost...

[doublepost=1540230559][/doublepost]

arm architecture, simpler than x64. That kind of architecture Intel is able to fit in 5 nm long time ago...It's not the same a build a car than a big commercial plane.

This is a major point people miss — although Intel is being laughably slow, ARM is easier to put on smaller die sizes

 

[danielwsmithee]

So Apple hasn't been updating their Macs at all because of intel?

• Mac Pro - Ships with Xeon E5 v2 - Intel has released v3, v4 and now SP lines to replace E5 with no update.
• Mac Mini - Ships with 4th gen core processors, Intel is currently shipping 9th gen.
• iMac - Currently shipping 7th gen, Intel is currently shipping 9th gen.
• MBA - Currently shipping a 5th gen, Intel is currently shipping 8th gen.

Intel certainly has their fair share of problems, but I really don't think they are the reason the Mac product line is stagnant. Given that almost the entire segment (outside of MBP) is shipping processors that are at least 3 generations old.

 

[Luap]

Only 6 years to go until Apple even considers putting them in anything then.

 

[cube]

arm architecture, simpler than x64. That kind of architecture Intel is able to fit in 5 nm long time ago...It's not the same a build a car than a big commercial plane.

The latest ARM cores are quite complex and x86 CPUs are implemented using a RISC micro ops core since a long time.

 

[StralyanPithecus]

Gotta remember that Intel is unquestionably one of the most advanced chip makers in the world. Granted, TSMC got to 7nm first, but no one can deny that Intel is cutting edge.
That being the case, and their difficulties in mass producing a 10nm chip, this only goes to show that silicon chip production is approaching the limits of physics. Sure, some day there will maybe be a 5nm chip, but we've been warned plenty of times that the wall is near. You can't keep shrinking stuff down forever.

A big point is the complexity of the silicon chip being build. More complex more lines between single gates and registers to be run, and that creates a lot of not wanted quantum tunneling talking (interference). The power of the ARM arch, and Intels mistake, is parallel processing which in part solves the problem, but as raw and brute force, Intel is still long ahead of others chip makers, at least in CPU's.