After a tough second-quarter earnings call and issues with their Raptor Lake CPUs, Intel has some positive news. Their first 18A chips have been tested and successfully booted up operating systems, including Panther Lake for PCs and Clearwater Forest server CPUs.
Panther Lake will be released later in 2025 as a new family of mobile processors. Clearwater Forest will launch as an upgrade to the Sierra Forest all-E-core Xeon parts, which were introduced in June. This new CPU will feature updated Darkmont E-cores and Skymont cores, as well as Intel’s advanced Foveros Direct packaging technology.
Intel has also made progress with their 18A process, which includes two major innovations: RibbonFET gate-all-around FETs and PowerVia back-side power delivery. These advancements aim to improve power efficiency and clock scaling, leading to better chip performance.
To attract customers, Intel released the first full Process Design Kit (PDK) for the 18A process node. This PDK gives customers the tools they need to design their own chips, aligning with Intel’s finalized process specifications. The company hopes this will help them attract customers from other leading fabs like TSMC and Samsung.
Intel expects their first external customer chip design to be completed in the first half of 2025, marking a significant step in expanding their foundry business.
Source: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/intel-boots-first-18a-cpu/