Intel to now make chips for Qualcomm – Times of India

Chip maker Intel has announced that its first big customer for its new Foundry Services is Qualcomm. Intel will start to make chips for Qualcomm in future by using Intel’s new 20A process that is expected to ramp in 2024.
Qualcomm is a well-established player when it comes to providing chips for smartphones due to the hugely popular Snapdragon series of chips. But Qualcomm is now eying laptops and ultimately hopes to take on Apple’s M series chips for laptops. Intel hasn’t revealed any details as to what kind of chips it will be making for Qualcomm. So, it’s too early to speculate whether Intel will make Snapdragon chips or will focus entirely on Qualcomm’s ambitions to be a major chip provider for laptops.
Intel 20A process that will power future Qualcomm chips will come with two technologies– RibbonFET and PowerVia. RibbonFET is Intel’s implementation of a gate-all-around transistor. RibbonFET will be the company’s first new transistor architecture after FinFET in 2011.
“The technology delivers faster transistor switching speeds while achieving the same drive current as multiple fins in a smaller footprint,” said Intel.
On the other hand, PowerVia is Intel’s implementation of backside power delivery, optimising signal transmission by eliminating the need for power routing on the front side of the wafer.
“Intel has a long history of foundational process innovations that have propelled the industry forward by leaps and bounds. We led the transition to strained silicon at 90nm, to high-k metal gates at 45nm and to FinFET at 22nm. Intel 20A will be another watershed moment in process technology with two groundbreaking innovations: RibbonFET and PowerVia,” said Dr. Ann Kelleher, senior vice president and general manager of Technology Development at Intel in a statement to the media.