Intel Looking to Deepen Ties with TSMC in Hopes of Securing 3nm Supply

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appuals.com, Dec. 03, 2021 – 

Intel has acted as its own foundry for ages manufacturing its own chips without relying on a third-party. However, with significantly competition over the past few years and a stagnating business portfolio, Intel decided to change that and launch its IDM 2.0 strategy. With this change, Intel would not become much more open, not only acting as a traditional foundry that accepts contracts from other companies, but also start to outsource some of its products to other foundries, mainly TSMC.

TSMC in many ways is Intel’s biggest indirect competitor as it’s the largest sub-contract semiconductor manufacturer in the world. It works in tandem with AMD, NVIDIA, and has a deep relation and history with Apple, who chose to ditch Intel in favor of its own silicone in 2020. That silicone was manufactured by TSMC. In fact, TSMC manufacturers all the chips inside Apple products including current iPhones, iPads, and Macs.

The upcoming iPhone 15 is also said to include Apple’s first-ever in-house 5G modems, manufactured by TSMC, ditching Qualcomm in the process. Apple acquired Intel’s modem division back in 2019 but has been unable to capitalize on this acquisition ever since, but this is looking to change soon as Apple inches closer to developing its own 5G modems to be used in 2023 iPhones.

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