{"id":4819,"date":"2022-01-20T19:28:05","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T19:28:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/01\/20\/intel-purchases-first-next-gen-chip-making-tool-set-to-arrive-in-2024\/"},"modified":"2022-01-20T19:28:05","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T19:28:05","slug":"intel-purchases-first-next-gen-chip-making-tool-set-to-arrive-in-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/01\/20\/intel-purchases-first-next-gen-chip-making-tool-set-to-arrive-in-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Intel purchases first next-gen chip-making tool set to arrive in 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Intel announced that it ordered the first of a new generation of chip-making machines from ASML, a Dutch manufacturer of photolithography systems.<\/p>\n

The purchase is Intel\u2019s latest move in a larger effort to get back on top of the chip game. Each of the new ASML machines, dubbed \u2018Twinscan EXE:5200,\u2019 cost on average $340 million USD (about $425 million CAD) and should arrive in 2024. It\u2019s considered critical to advancing processor progress. One of the main ways chipmakers advance processors is through miniaturization. By shrinking chip circuitry, manufacturers can fit more into processors, enabling them to do more work.<\/p>\n

Photolithography, which literally means \u201cwriting on stone with light\u201d according to CNET<\/em><\/a>, is core to the process of miniaturizing chip circuitry. Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) have both surpassed Intel in this regard thanks to the use of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light. The shorter wavelength of EUV allows manufacturers to inscribe finer patterns on silicon wafers.<\/p>\n

CNET <\/em>reports that Intel was late to the EUV game, but the company is now working to correct that. The company expects to start selling its first EUV chips in 2023 with processors based on the \u2018Intel 4\u2019 node \u2014 the company\u2019s somewhat confusing new name for its 7nm process<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The new Twinscan EXE:5200 machines are scheduled to be delivered in 2024 for Intel operations beginning in 2025. The machine uses an advanced EUV tool with a high numeric aperture (NA) to inscribe even finer patterns on silicon wafers.<\/p>\n

In simpler terms, that means we\u2019re still several years out from seeing Intel\u2019s more advanced and hopefully more competitive NA EUV process (likely as part of the Intel 18A process slated for 2025). Intel is only just ramping up EUV with Intel 4, which was originally supposed to launch in 2021 but was infamously delayed<\/a> (and renamed<\/a>).<\/p>\n

With Samsung and TSMC already using EUV for 5nm and even 4nm (with Samsung\u2019s new Exynos 2200), there\u2019s still a clear gap between the companies. Even though Intel\u2019s first in line for NA EUV technology, it\u2019s still behind on current EUV. And it\u2019s not like either Samsung or TSMC will sit idle and let Intel catch up. The next few years will certainly be interesting in the chip market and I expect competition will heat up as Intel chases the top spot.<\/p>\n

Source: CNET<\/a><\/p>\n

Image credit: Intel<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n