Intel Foundry customers call 14A "the real deal"

Veteran analyst Patrick Moorhead has shared some new information about Intel's upcoming 14A node. Clients who have seen it say, "14A is the real deal", and it is highly competitive in key markets such as datacenter, PC and mobile. The explicit mention of mobile chips is curious, as Intel Foundry has yet to secure a contract with smartphone SoC makers such as Qualcomm, which has opted to stick with TSMC/Samsung Foundry for the time being. Its main competitor, MediaTek, is also unlikely to make the switch.

That leaves us with future Apple A-series chips. Ming-Chi Kuo already stated Intel Foundry would manufacture the Apple M7 on Intel's 14A node, so it isn't entirely implausible to assume that agreement will extend to iPhone chips. Intel's 14A node is expected to enter mass production sometime in 2027, and Patrick says, "I am already hearing very positive things" about it.

Intel 14A is slated to be one of the first nodes to use ASML's high-NA EUV machines, which will result in price increases. Apart from Apple, even Nvidia could use 14A for some of its offerings, and if a report from earlier is accurate, Intel's arch-rival AMD could be a prospective client too. Apart from 14A, Intel's packaging solutions, such as EMIB and Foveros, are also being eyed up by major players.