The field of processors is experiencing some intense days. The battle for technological hegemony being waged by the governments of China and the United States is joined by the private struggle of manufacturers for seize leadership in the manufacture of processors and semiconductors.
In this highly competitive context, Intel has announced a new partnership with ARM to create low-power processors through Intel Foundry Services.
The collaboration between Intel and ARM will focus primarily on SoC (System on a Chip) encapsulated designs for mobile phones, with which the Californian company would gain a presence in the mobility segment.
In a second term, this collaboration could be expanded to the development of semiconductors for the automotive, aerospace, government solutions and other areas in which the breakdown of stocks that has been dragging on for a couple of years is causing delays in manufacturing processes and distribution.
In addition to a more than evident interest on the part of Intel to recover ground in the mobility segment, the alliance with ARM seeks to overtake Samsung as second-largest semiconductor maker by volume of income. And get a little closer to TSMC which tops the revenue chart.
Intel has made the alliance public through Intel Foundry Services (IFS) indicating its intent to collaborate with ARM to build low-power SoC based on the 18A GAA (Gate All Around) node, which won’t arrive until Q4 2025 or even well into 2026.
He Intel 18A manufacturing process consists of a plan to integrate five increasingly advanced semiconductor manufacturing process technologies over the next five years. The manufacture of processors through this process will be carried out from the plants that the company has in the US and the European Union.
Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel Corporation, has stated: “There is a growing demand for processing power, driven by digitization, but until now customers without manufacturing capabilities have had very limited options for designing their solutions for advanced mobile technology. Intel’s collaboration with ARM will open new markets for IFS and expand options for any company that wants to build processors with a more open system and supported by cutting-edge technology.”.
These statements by the head of Intel appeal directly to companies like Qualcomm, the main player in mobile processor technology, which designs the most powerful chips on the marketbut delegates the manufacturing process of its semiconductors to third parties.
The same scenario is presented by other manufacturers such as Apple, which migrated its entire platform of M processors from its computers to ARM architecture after a long affair with Intel, whose processors powered Apple equipment since its jump to x86 architecture. With this new move, perhaps Intel could regain its space inside Apple computers from ARM.