Intel has revealed additional details on its next-gen 14A & 14A-E process nodes which deliver substantial performance & efficiency uplifts over 18A.
Intel 14A Process Node Boasts Over 15% Efficiency Advantage Over 18A While Improving Chip Integration By 20%
Intel recently added several new process nodes to its roadmap which include 14A & 10A. The latter was briefly mentioned by the blue team during its IFS Direct 2024 event and will be targeted for the production run beyond 2028. Meanwhile, the company has positioned its 14A node to be ready for production by 2026 while the advanced 14A-E variant will be ready for production by 2027. So far, it is only mentioned that 14A nodes will be the first to utilize the High-NA EUV technology but it looks like Intel has spilled additional beans on this next-gen process node.
During the SPIE 2024 conference, Ann Kelleher (Executive vice president and general manager of Foundry Technology Development at Intel) further added that the 14A process node will offer over 15% performance per watt advantage over the 18A node while enabling a 20% increase in the chip integration process. Meanwhile, the Intel 14A-E process node will further add another 5% over the 14A process node in terms of performance.
Intel has yet to announce any products based on the 14A process node and its sub-variants but it looks like the technology will play a crucial role in Intel's goals to become the 2nd largest fab in the world, outpacing Samsung and getting closer to TSMC. While Intel sees TSMC as a competitor, it also utilizes TSMC to fulfill its chip supply for a large majority of its client CPUs. TSMC will be making several IP blocks for its next-generation client CPU families and more. For example:
- Intel Arrow Lake: 20A (CPU Tile) / TSMC N3 (GPU Tile)
- Intel Lunar Lake: 20A? (CPU Tile) / TSMC N3B (GPU Tile)
Intel's 20A is yet to be seen on shelves and their first products are expected to launch later this year in the form of Arrow Lake and Lunar Lake. These will follow the launch of the 18A products which mainly cover the 2025-2026 release plan so we can expect 14A around 2026-2027 which is still a few years away from now. Expect more information on these next-generation processes & their respective products in upcoming events.
Intel Process Roadmap
| Process Name | Intel 14A-E | Intel 14A | Intel 18A | Intel 20A | Intel 3 | Intel 4 | Intel 7 | Intel 10nm SuperFin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Production | 2027 | 2026 | 2H 2024 | 1H 2024 | 1H 2023 | 2H 2022 | In Volume (Now) | In High-Volume (Now) |
| Perf/Watt (over 10nm ESF) | TBA | TBA | TBA | >20%? | 18% | 20% | 10-15% | N/A |
| EUV | TBD | High-NA EUV | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | N/A |
| Transistor Architecture | TBD | TBD | Optimized RibbonFET | RibbonFET | Optimized FinFET | Optimized FinFET | Optimized FinFET | FinFET |
| Products | TBD | TBD | Nova Lake Panther Lake Clearwater Forest Diamond Rapids? Foundry Partner | Lunar Lake Arrow Lake Diamond Rapids? | Granite Rapids Sierra Forest Foundry Partner | Meteor Lake Xe-HPC / Xe-HP? | Alder Lake Raptor Lake Sapphire Rapids Emerald Rapids Xe-HPG? | Tiger Lake |
News Source: SeDaily
About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.
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