TSMC will manufacture some of Intel's 3nm hardware starting in July 2022

It is no secret that Intel had been looking at TSMC to manufacture some of its upcoming silicon. Initial reports suggested that the orders could be limited to some low-end processors. Neither party has officially commented on the partnership yet, given the sensitive nature of such agreements. However, sources within the supply chain are confident about the endeavour. Chinese news outlet UDN reports that Intel has called dibs on a good chunk of TSMC's 3nm capacity.

TSMC has plans to set up an entirely new plant to handle Intel's 3nm needs. The magic will happen at the Nanke 18b plant, adjacent to the Nanke 18a plant that manufactures Apple's 5nm chips. It is rumoured that some intel graphics cards and server components will be manufactured at the location. Trial runs are expected to start in Q2, 2022, with full-fledged production expected to kick off in H2, 2022. It is roughly around when Intel's in-house Intel 4 node (7nm) will go live. Whether or not Intel will mix and match parts manufactured in-house and by TSMC remains to be seen.

We discovered earlier that Qualcomm and MediaTek also expressed interest in TSMC's 3nm node. However, Apple seems to have beaten both chipmakers to the punch, according to a new report. It also puts AMD in a precarious position, as it its upcoming Ryzen 8000 series of processors are rumoured to be based on TSMC's 3nm node. However, AMD has already asked Samsung to assist with its manufacturing woes, and it could be one of the first customers to use its 3nm facilities if TSMC has no room.

Buy the Intel Core i5-10600KF on Amazon