Intel's Roadmap Until 2028 14A Should Herald Intel's Return to the Foundry Top

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At its Foundry in-house exhibition, Intel gave a closer look at its upcoming 14A production, which should make the ailing chip giant a little more competitive again.

From 2027, 14A technology will be used, which will consume up to 35 percent less power than its predecessor 18A or, alternatively, deliver up to 20 percent more power for the same energy requirement.

The roadmap that Intel presented in San Jose at the "Intel Foundry Direct 2025" event spans an arc from the current 18A technology to the introduction of 14A. 18A is set to go into series production this year and will serve as the basis for several variants, including 18A-P with optimized power yield and 18A-PT, which also allows chips to be stacked vertically. For special applications with analog circuits, 18A-E is also in preparation.

With 14A, Intel is planning a new process generation that can rely on high-NA-EUV lithography for the first time. This production node not only brings more transistor density and lower energy consumption, but should also enable greater flexibility in chip design. As with 18A, specialized offshoots of the 14A node are to follow - including 14A-E for analogue or edge applications.

Turbo Cells Raise Clock Rates

The new Turbo Cells of the 14A technology accelerate the so-called "critical paths", i.e. the slowest signal paths in the chip, which ultimately determine the maximum clock rate. In the past, developers often had to work with particularly fast, but also power-hungry transistors. Turbo Cells now offer finely adjustable structures that are specifically designed for speed without making the entire chip inefficient.

PowerDirect Supplies Current Under the t´Transistor

Intel is also going one step further when it comes to power supply. With PowerDirect, the company is introducing the second generation of its rear power supply, replacing PowerVia. The current now flows directly to the transistor connections - without any detours. This reduces electrical losses and is intended to increase efficiency at the same time. While competitor TSMC is working on a similar solution, Intel is already positioning it with 14A.

Intel Relies on Stacked Chips and Geopolitical Independence

In parallel to 14A, Intel is introducing a new variant of the 18A node: 18A-PT. For the first time, this allows several chip dies to be stacked directly using Foveros Direct technology. The process dispenses with conventional solder connections and relies on copper-to-copper contacts with a fine pitch - a technology used by TSMC for AMD CPUs, for example. Intel also wants to use this technology to place large caches or specialized accelerators directly above computing cores in the future.

The technological leaps come at a time of global uncertainty. Intel sees itself as the only US supplier that can handle both development and production at the most modern level. While TSMC continues to suffer from high capacity utilization, Intel wants to score points with free capacity and technical independence.

According to Intel, several partners have already planned test chips with 14A. The corresponding design kits are available and should enable an early start to development. Risk production is set to begin in 2027 and with it another attempt to catch up with the leaders in semiconductor manufacturing. (mc)