Discussion Samsung to Fabricate Chips for Intel

DisEnchantment

Golden Member
Mar 3, 2017
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It seems to be reported in Korean media that Samsung won the order to fab Intel chips.
They specifically mentioned desktop chips.


Which chips would those be?
What fabrication node could it possible be
 

teejee

Senior member
Jul 4, 2013
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It seems to be reported in Korean media that Samsung won the order to fab Intel chips.
They specifically mentioned desktop chips.


Which chips would those be?
What fabrication node could it possible be

I would expect budget CPU's like Atom/Celeron. Maybe they just port Gemini Lake refresh to a suitable Samsung node?
 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
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Sep 28, 2005
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i was thinking possibly true for the SSD products, since intels partnership with micron is finished.

Intel + Samsung making next gen SSD's would be something i would definitely look forward to from intel.

Im fairly sure it would be a much better relationship then Toyota + BMW.
 
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scannall

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Jan 1, 2012
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If the story is true, and I have my doubts it would likely be low margin, low complexity parts like chipsets. Freeing up capacity for their high margin parts.
 

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
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Desktop processors chips(ets)....

Doesn't Intel still have 22nm fab capacity to produce those? Or is that all switched over to 14/10nm? Heck if they wanted cheap chipsets, they could have gone to GF and gotten a better deal. Probably. Or SMIC hahah.
 

IntelUser2000

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Oct 14, 2003
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Seems like a continuation of the rumor back few months ago about them fabbing Rocket Lake.

Rocket Lake = 14nm Samsung Skylake + Intel process Gen 12 GPU?

Maybe this is why they don't seem to be aiming the high end. Not enough clocks.

Also reminds me when they were going to produce value phone chips by licensing Atom chips away to a Chinese 3rd party with TSMC fabbing.

Doesn't Intel still have 22nm fab capacity to produce those? Or is that all switched over to 14/10nm?

Looks like they are moving one fab to 14nm and setting up a new one for 10/7nm.

They still have a 65nm fab operating, and most are capable of 22nm.
 
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A///

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2017
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This goes against Intel's decade long mantra of being in house. I'd be surprised if Samsung were chosen to do 14nm processors, because not only would that cause Intel's stock to take a nose dive and make them a target for anti-Intel marketing, but Samsung's got bigger issues on their plate sliding towards their 7nm.
 

IntelUser2000

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Oct 14, 2003
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This goes against Intel's decade long mantra of being in house.

Plenty of Intel products are contracted out to third party foundries. They use a lot of ARM cores too.

At one point, Intel was known as the single largest licensee of ARM chips. SSD controllers, chipets, ethernet controllers, WiFi chips have ARM cores inside. And they are typically fabbed by TSMC. Chipsets are fabbed in-house.

Now they are not known to contract out their CPU cores for 3rd party manufacturing, but it has been done in a limited fashion. Like them allowing Rockchip to use Atom cores and manufacture them.

It won't be ideal, but they might be desperate enough. I figure its also possible Rocket Lake will be dual-fabbed with high-end = Intel and low-end = Samsung.
 

A///

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2017
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Plenty of Intel products are contracted out to third party foundries. They use a lot of ARM cores too.
Intel's long mantra is about their processors. Intel's been doling out work for lesser important parts for over a decade. Intel has always used their in house fabrication of CPUs as a major selling point to shareholders.
 

A///

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Feb 24, 2017
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At one point, Intel was known as the single largest licensee of ARM chips. SSD controllers, chipets, ethernet controllers, WiFi chips have ARM cores inside. And they are typically fabbed by TSMC. Chipsets are fabbed in-house.

Now they are not known to contract out their CPU cores for 3rd party manufacturing, but it has been done in a limited fashion. Like them allowing Rockchip to use Atom cores and manufacture them.

This adds nothing to my post you quoted. This is common knowledge. Atom is a low selling part, it isn't surprising, even per their own Wiki article, that they don't care who makes it via license.
It won't be ideal, but they might be desperate enough. I figure its also possible Rocket Lake will be dual-fabbed with high-end = Intel and low-end = Samsung.
If they're desperate enough, expect major financial papers to report on it. Intel making their Core processors at a third party won't go down well. Samsung can't even get their butt in gear for their 7nm process let alone their 14nm process. It's bull and it's been reported to death for months now. Even the source of the info has no actual source to verify their claims. It was pulled out of thin air.


Here's the original article from nearly six months ago.


They day Intel outsources low-end Core parts is the day Intel's stock begins to tank and people question whether their 10nm yields will improve, let alone pipeline issues down the road with 7nm and their ever increasing managerial problems.
 
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jpiniero

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Oct 1, 2010
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Atom really isn't that low volume. They sell a ton of them in Chromebooks. It's definitely way more volume than Core Celeron and Pentium.

I suppose they could make a Rocket Lake chiplet at Samsung 14 nm aimed at some of i3 and Core Celeron/Pentium but i3's frequency today is pretty high, it starts at 4.2 turbo and goes up to 4.6.
 

A///

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2017
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Atom really isn't that low volume. They sell a ton of them in Chromebooks. It's definitely way more volume than Core Celeron and Pentium.

I suppose they could make a Rocket Lake chiplet at Samsung 14 nm aimed at some of i3 and Core Celeron/Pentium but i3's frequency today is pretty high, it starts at 4.2 turbo and goes up to 4.6.
Except if in six months nothing has surfaced, then it was a farce to begin with. Samsung is a major conglomerate. They make up nearly a quarter of South Korea's GDP. The Korean press much like their North Korean counterparts are know for spitting BS out to boost stock prices and public interest in their home grown companies. Realistically, how many Atom powered units are being sold new per month in relation to more powerful x86 offerings such as the i3?

Intel has 16 fabs. You honestly think they're going to pay out the nose to a third party or convert more of their fabs into modern ones to handle the load all the way into 2023? If you seriously think Intel would rely on another company to make their 14nm, I've got a bridge to sell you.

These rumors began in relation to Intel having trouble producing enough of the chips OEMs wanted. OEMs are buying trays of performance minded chips. I5s, i7s, i9s, Xeons. Not pithy junk. These were also debunked by Intel within the last 48 hours. Are we not going to believe them? If you're old enough to remember back just about a decade ago, you'd recall people had trust issues of chips being made in various parts of the world versus the US. This is atop sharing IP with Samsung.
 
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