An economic recession would not deter Intel Corp from continuously investing in new processor technologies and capacity expansion to support long-term growth, CEO Pat Gelsinger said on Tuesday.
The US chipmaker has adopted a more austere approach to investment in the near term amid an industry downcycle and macroeconomic uncertainty.
It has also become more “thoughtful” about operational investment, Gelsinger told reporters in a question-and-answer session following his keynote speech at this year’s Intel Innovation in San Jose, California.
Photo courtesy of Intel Corp via CNA
“When is the last time that a recession lasts for four or five years,” he asked. “Its impact on the industry may last several quarters like two, three or four quarters.”
However, it would take chipmakers 12 to 14 quarters to build a new fab, he said.
Developing a new processor architecture, or a core process technology requires multiple years of investments and efforts, he added.
“You cannot be driven by near-term financials,” Gelsinger said. “We are investing for the long term. That’s our strategy.”
Intel is spending on building process technology to earn technology leadership in four or five years, he said.
The company is investing in building fabs to ramp up those technologies across diverse segments from networking, graphics, automotive to data center businesses, he said.
Intel is helping build more globally balanced and resilient semiconductor supply chains to help meet growing demand for advanced semiconductors worldwide through the company’s IDM2.0 strategy, he said.
At the heart of its course is Moore’s Law, he said.
Moore’s Law is alive and well, he said, refuting Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) claim last week that Moore’s Law “is dead.”
He attributed breakthroughs in lithography and core of semiconductor manufacturing with advanced packaging technologies to the assertion.
Intel is on schedule, or even ahead of its schedule in developing five nodes in four years, Gelsinger said.
Normally, it takes two years to develop a node based on the law, he added.
“We will not rest until the periodic table is exhausted. We will continue to be the stewards of Moore’s Law into the future,” he said.
Intel expects to deliver its first 18A test chip by the end of the year, he said.
Intel’s 18A process technology is equivalent to the 2-nanometer technology developed by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電). TSMC plans to start volume production of 2-nanometer chips in 2025.
As part of Intel’s IDM2.0 strategy, it is building more new capacity, including factories in Arizona and Ohio.
The chipmaker is also working on new capacity expansion projects in Israel, Ireland and Malaysia, it said.
Asked whether US control over chip exports to China would affect Intel’s chip design, or its IDM2.0 strategy, Gelsinger said there would be no change.
He said that oil reserves have defined geopolitics for the past five decades, but fabs and technology supply chains would be more important in the next five decades.
The chipmaker unveiled its latest-generation, 13th Gen Core i9-13900k processor for desktop computers, the world’s fastest desktop processor. The 13th Gen Intel Core family includes six new unlocked desktop processors with up to 24 cores and 32 threads and clock speeds of up to 5.8GHz for the best gaming, streaming and recording experience, it said.
With the new desktop processor and upcoming notebook processor, Intel believes overall PC shipments would return to growth next year, after a forecast decline this year, Sam Gao (高嵩), Intel vice president of Intel’s desktop processor business, told reporters in Taipei yesterday.
High-end gaming desktop and those designed for creators would be the major drivers, Gao said.
soft landing: The US’ rate-setting FOMC finds itself in a difficult situation as it seeks to address inflation through interest rate hikes while avoiding a recession The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to hold interest rates steady on Wednesday after a summer of mixed economic data, while leaving the door open to another hike if needed. The Fed has raised interest rates 11 times over the past 18 months, lifting its key lending rate to a level not seen for 22 years as it tackles inflation still stubbornly above its long-term target of 2 percent. Analysts and traders broadly expect the US central bank to hold rates steady on Wednesday in order to give policymakers more time to assess the health of the world’s largest economy. “We think
AI TREND: TSMC has been rapidly expanding capacity to meet a spike in demand for advanced packaging services, but still expects supplies to be tight for 18 months Arizona is in talks with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) about advanced chip packaging, state Governor Katie Hobbs said yesterday, which is crucial for the manufacturing of artificial intelligence (AI) chips. TSMC, which is building a US$40 billion chip factory in the US state, has not announced plans to build facilities for advanced chip packaging in the US. Advanced packaging processes stitch multiple chips together into a single device, lowering the added cost of more powerful computing. “Part of our efforts at building the semiconductor ecosystem is focusing on advanced packaging, so we have several things in the works around that
NXP Semiconductors NV expects its first automotive-grade 5-nanometer chip built by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to become available for automakers within one-and-a-half years at the earliest, following demand for better computing performance and energy efficiency for connected vehicles, a company executive said yesterday. That would mean a significant upgrade from the 16-nanometer technology NXP adopted in its existing series of microprocessors. NXP chief technology executive Lars Reger made the remarks during a media briefing yesterday in Taipei. The latest updates came after NXP unveiled its plan to source 5-nanometer capacity from TSMC in 2021. This is Reger’s first trip to
Tailwinds: Blockbuster earnings at Nvidia Corp have sparked hopes of a tech sector boom; Taiwanese chipmakers are hopeful benefits will come to them too The worst could be over for the New Taiwan dollar as China’s economic recovery and a rebound in the chip industry will support the beleaguered currency, analysts said. The NT dollar is on course to weaken for a sixth month, the longest stretch since 2006, after foreign funds turned sour on its technology sector and risk sentiment deteriorated on slower growth in China. The tide seems to be turning now on nascent signs of stabilization in China’s economy — its biggest trading partner — following policy boosts. The yuan emerged as the best-performing Asian currency last week, followed by the Japanese yen
RSS