With the changes brought forth in the semiconductor market due to the increasing demand for high-performing devices, Intel couldn’t sit quietly and do nothing for its silicon market. A recent job description on the company’s official website has revealed that it will be outsourcing its production to the Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. We already know that intel was planning to make the shift for a long time. But the new job listing reveals that Intel will be shifting its Atom and Xeon processors over to the world’s largest contract chipmaker.
The job description states that “As a member of the QAT design team, you will work as the RTL integration lead within the Custom Logic ASIC Engineering group in DCG [Data Center Group]. You will play a key role in developing and integrating QAT into Atom & Xeon based SoC on Intel and TSMC process. You will work with the IP/SoC integration team and collaborate with the SoC design, validation, and emulation teams to ensure successful integration validation of the QAT IP.”
According to sources, Intel only currently produces special variants of its Atom and Xeon based processors. The company earlier unveiled its Atm’ Snow Ridge’ SoC with up to 24 Tremont cores for 5G base stations. But according to reports, the Xeon platform utilizes high-performance cores and is sold at premium prices, so it might not be advantageous for intel to outsource it to TSMC.
But the company might be doing it coup with its own fab cost. Intel’s Atom processors are not cheap to make and thus utilizes a more complex process. Thus for the company to focus on its other models, it looks like a decent strategy to outsource its complex Atom and Xeon processors to TSMC.
