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Intel Says 10nm Chip Development is On Track

Monday October 22, 2018 10:38 am PDT by Juli Clover

Responding to claims earlier this morning that it had ended development on its 10nm "Cannon Lake" processors, Intel announced on Twitter that it is "making good progress" on its upcoming 10nm chips.

The announcement followed a claim from SemiAccurate suggesting Intel had killed off its 10nm process. Intel's 10nm chips were supposed to launch at some point in 2016, but have been delayed multiple times due to production difficulties.

According to Intel, yields on its 10nm process are improving "consistent with the timeline" shared during the last earnings report, which means sans additional delays, the chips will come out in 2019.

Media reports published today that Intel is ending work on the 10nm process are untrue. We are making good progress on 10nm. Yields are improving consistent with the timeline we shared during our last earnings report.
— Intel News (@intelnews) October 22, 2018

Apple uses Intel chips in its line of Mac desktops and notebooks, and Intel's delays have caused problems for the Cupertino-based company in recent years.

As a result, Apple is said to be planning to transition away from Intel chips to its own custom-designed chips as soon as 2020 or 2021, using supplier TSMC as a manufacturer.

With custom-designed Mac chips, Apple will no longer be forced to delay updates due to Intel's manufacturing issues, and custom chips will give the company more control over design, better profits, and a way to differentiate its products from competing PCs.

Apple has long used Apple-designed A-Series chips in its iOS devices, and the marriage between hardware and software often results in performance that is unmatched by competing products. Similar gains could come when Apple has more control over Mac chip design as well.

Apple won't be ready to transition to its own chips by 2019, and will likely adopt the 10nm Cannon Lake chips from Intel provided those chips make their launch date. Cannon Lake chips will bring performance improvements, reduced power consumption, and support for faster, more efficient LPDDR4 RAM.

Tag: Intel

Top Rated Comments

(View all)

danielwsmithee

13 months ago

So Apple hasn't been updating their Macs at all because of intel?

* Mac Pro - Ships with Xeon E5 v2 - Intel has released v3, v4 and now SP lines to replace E5 with no update.
* Mac Mini - Ships with 4th gen core processors, Intel is currently shipping 9th gen.
* iMac - Currently shipping 7th gen, Intel is currently shipping 9th gen.
* MBA - Currently shipping a 5th gen, Intel is currently shipping 8th gen.

Intel certainly has their fair share of problems, but I really don't think they are the reason the Mac product line is stagnant. Given that almost the entire segment (outside of MBP) is shipping processors that are at least 3 generations old.

Rating: 53 Votes

brofkand

13 months ago

Intel's delays are not why Apple isn't updating Macs as much anymore.

Rating: 41 Votes

Bornee35

13 months ago

Rumour has it they will be released alongside the Airpower

Rating: 33 Votes

StralyanPithecus

13 months ago

Intel is not gonna cry by loosing Apple, is a very small customer for them...as a former Intel eng. I know the hardship of building x64 architecture chips on anything smaller than 12 nm. We are talking about playing with single atoms almost...
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Seriously Intel?
TSMC and Samsung already have 7nm chips in production and working in 5nm.

arm architecture, simpler than x64. That kind of architecture Intel is able to fit in 5 nm long time ago...It's not the same to build a car than a big commercial plane.

Rating: 29 Votes

wallysb01

13 months ago

Such negativity. ARM is one thing, full fledge desktop processors are another. I for one will not cheer the day Apple moves its computer line to ARM (if that actually ever happens).

Rating: 26 Votes

Andres Cantu

13 months ago

Consistent with the timeline, yeah, 10nm was supposed to be out two years ago. Don’t forget that, Intel.

Rating: 22 Votes

Baymowe335

13 months ago

Glad they are working on getting 2 year old tech to market.

Meanwhile, TSMC is working on 5nm.

Rating: 17 Votes

DNichter

13 months ago

Too little, too late. Time to move on from Intel.

Rating: 15 Votes

now i see it

13 months ago

Gotta remember that Intel is unquestionably one of the most advanced chip makers in the world. Granted, TSMC got to 7nm first, but no one can deny that Intel is cutting edge.
That being the case, and their difficulties in mass producing a 10nm chip, this only goes to show that silicon chip production is approaching the limits of physics. Sure, some day there will maybe be a 5nm chip, but we've been warned plenty of times that the wall is near. You can't keep shrinking stuff down forever.

Rating: 11 Votes