Intel's 10nm Volume Ramp and Cannonlake Microarchitecture Delayed Due to Yield Problems

In what appears to be a instance of deja vu, Intel has delayed its 10nm platform in its entirety. Needless to say, the Cannonlake Processor Compages has been delayed as well, with the Kaby Lake intermediary platform taking its identify. Unless I am very much mistaken, this could have interesting implications for Moore's Law as nosotros know it, unless TSMC or Samsung tin can practice something nearly it.

intel_semiconductor_reduction_cost_chip_manufacturing An Intel toll reduction per process slide. @Intel Public Domain

Intel delays ramp to 10nm and consequently Cannonlake - over again

The official reason for the delay is poor yields. Simply put the process isn't mature enough for ramping to loftier volume production anytime soon. Intel has been following its tick tock cadence for quite some years now and has managed to stick to Moore's Law by the skin of its teeth. On the 14nm node for example, the Cadre One thousand fleck qualified equally the entrant to ushering in 14nnm in 2022, merely that was merely afterward the onset of unexpected filibuster subsequently filibuster. The problem is, even according to their own projections 14nm was supposed to be a walk in the park, and that took much longer than expected.

And so when 10nm, an admittedly complicated node to handle, gets delayed, that is something that anybody was expecting to happen. The only question is - how does it bear upon the Industry and why is the delay happening.If we take Intel's explanation at face value and then that means that yields are too low for Intel to ramp. Just the economic feasibility of the yield percentage and process maturity should exist compared against the loss of value as a business concern Intel risks to incur if TSMC or Samsung overtakes it.

Both Samsung and TSMC plan to offset ramping 10nm in 2022 (via Semi Wiki). And if they striking the node before Intel - the market won't intendance about the quality of the chips. They will get oh hey, Intel got browbeaten to 10nm. They wont look at the Gate pitch & Fin Pitch, and if Intel seems to accept lost its technological atomic number 82 (notwithstanding inaccurate that might exist) the visitor could come across its value decrease over night. Intel and Samsung can chose to hit the ground running by compensating for bad yield past massively increasing production - merely while that would exist a feasible business strategy for Samsung, it doesn't really seem similar Intel's modus operandi.

That leads me to another alternative: Intel is deliberately slowing spending as a business decision. Its no cloak-and-dagger that Intel is the only company in the globe capable of manufacturing sub 20nm circuits that can withstand high clock rates. Information technology tin can theoretically afford to wait and have its time on the 14nm node and this could very well be a business decision. Evidence of this could be suggested by the fact that Intel was supposed to buy over $6 Billion worth of equipment for its fabrication constitute (Fab 28) in Kiryat Gat , Israel. However, the purchase was put off and has at present been delayed to 2022 (via KitGuru) - needless to say, without this technological upgrade, the 10nm process ramp cannot be undertaken.