Intel Advanced Manufacturing Milestone Includes 18A Node Yield Improvements and 14A Process Roadmap Progress for Foundry Customers
Intel has announced an important milestone in its advanced manufacturing roadmap as yields for its key 18A node show tangible improvement. Based on information published by the most recent analysis by BlueFin Research Partners Intel has resolved previous yield issues of its 18A process which directly competes with the TSMC 2 nanometer node. This achievement leads to the next stage of the Intel foundry strategy which involves moving the more advanced 18A P node into risk trial production.
According to manufacturing data internal silicon production at Intel has been running on pace. It increased two percent quarter over quarter in the second quarter with an estimated increase of another one to two percent in the third quarter. Infrastructure expansion is also taking place at the Arizona Fab 42 with the installation of equipment reaching fifty percent. When operational this shall contribute an additional 7500 wafers per month to the existing older Intel 7 manufacturing capacity.
Most of the 18A node internal manufacturing occurs at either Fab 52 in Phoenix Arizona or D1X in Hillsboro Oregon. These two plants combined produce about 30000 wafers a month which adequately accounts for current internal product demands but production will need to increase as more internal product lines migrate to the node.
The upgraded 18A P node has entered risk trial production at the Oregon D1X facility. The new architecture provides designers a trade off of either nine percent performance at the same power consumption or an 18 percent reduction in power at the same performance level. Long term volume production of this 18A P node will eventually transfer to Fab 62.
High volume testing for the more advanced 14A node has produced encouraging results suggesting high feasibility of achieving mass manufacturing. Intel will initially manufacture 14A in the Oregon D1X facility followed by the construction of a second fab in Ohio. For external foundry customers it intends to establish commercial offerings for 18A P 18A PT and 14A advanced nodes. The 14A node is scheduled for risk trial production in 2028 with commercial manufacturing targeted for 2029 according to the existing roadmap. Earlier in May Intel executive Lip Bu Tan said the firm expects to gain formal foundry customer commitments from several partners in the second half of 2026.
