There has been much talk about the war on chips, semiconductors, crises and solutions. A bet from Intel in particular for all that has been said is IDM 2.0also something that we mention quite often and that now also teaches some secrets: preventive war and Plan B arrives. No less than 1,900 million dollars to set a technological pace that no one can resist based on the new High-NA EUV scanners from ASML.
One of the most important parts of tackling a problem and solving it is mapping out a strategy for the future so that it doesn’t happen again. This concept seems to be very clear to Intel since it is going to launch what is commonly known as preventive war, a kind of plan B that can determine the course of dominance by semiconductors.
Intel wants to take over the monopoly of High-NA EUV
Intel’s strategy is typical of science fiction, since the timing and coordination that they will have is worthy of a Hollywood script. And it is that, as we saw in the updated Intel roadmap, what will arrive this year is precisely the Intel 4 lithographic process (old 7 nm), where there is a very important change: it will be manufactured with a series of layers under EUV.
This fact is representative if we take into account that Intel immersed itself in DUV (badum tsss) with the 10nm and left aside this new technology that TSMC did see favorably. So although Intel 7 has been a step forward, they are behind their competitor and the mastery of the technique.
But this is about to become chip history when more than a year ago ASML finished the design of its new high wavelength scanner, where the current 0.33 NA EUVs become part of the common. For this reason, Intel has taken out the portfolio and goes for it all.
Plan B on chips is part of preventive war
The problem with any new cutting-edge technology, and especially when you have no competition, is that the price goes up, and a lot. We already gave figures at the time, but the price of the new TWINSCAN EXE:5200 could have risen to more than 350 million dollars at this time, where it is rumored that in December Intel closed the purchase for 300 million/unit in a long-term agreement starting in 2025.
We must not forget that we start from the TWINSCAN EXE:5000 already purchased previously, that is, it is a new purchase of the latest from ASML so as not to leave either Samsung or TSMC any loophole. It is a preventive war based on leaving your rivals without supplies, since it is estimated that Intel has bought all 6 TWINSCAN EXE:5200 that the company located in the Netherlands will be able to manufacture, where each scanner can produce an average of 200 wafers per hour.
But what if ASML delivery fails on time? Would this affect Intel’s pre-emptive warfare and lithographic processes? Well, according to Ann Kelleher, the person in charge of Intel’s lithography processes, the company says they are calm, there is a plan B, but they have not explained how they could defend themselves in that case. What is certain is that the problems and delays with the 10nm have served for Intel to come back with force and seen what has been seen, it does not intend to leave a puppet with a head.
