At its Vision 2025 conference, Intel revealed it has started risk production of its advanced 18A process node. This is a pivotal step marking the beginning of new low-volume test manufacturing for this technology.
Intel’s Kevin O’Buckley, Senior Vice President of Foundry Services, made the announcement. Intel nears full completion of its five nodes in four years. This initiative was launched by former CEO Pat Gelsinger as part of Intel’s quest to retake the semiconductor crown from TSMC. The conference also marks the first time new CEO Lip-Bu Tan has taken to the stage as Intel’s leader.
Launched in 2021, Intel’s four-year 5N4Y plan shifted focus. The company canceled high-volume 20A production due to cost. However, the 18A node is nearing completion. The plan aims to make process nodes available for production, not necessarily immediate high-volume manufacturing.
Risk production is a key step toward launching a new process node, demonstrating Intel’s confidence that the node is nearly ready for HVM. Leading up to this stage, the company has already produced numerous 18A test chips and shutters, often prototyping multiple designs on a single wafer.
During risk production, Intel manufactures wafers with a single chip design in low volumes. The company updates its manufacturing process and qualifies the Node and Process Design Kit (PDK) in real-life runs. Production will scale up in the second half of the year. This stage follows R&D, Design, and Prototyping.
Risk production involves some uncertainty for customers. Yields and functionality may fall short of targets, while manufacturing techniques and tooling are optimized. During this period, customers typically produce qualification or engineering samples using the new process. These early chips may not have guaranteed yields. However, they enable customers to begin product validation and prepare for full-scale launch when high-volume manufacturing is achieved.
Nonetheless, some customers choose to accept these risks to gain early access to the node, which enables them to improve their designs and achieve time-to-market advantages over competitors.
Intel has not specified whether 18A risk production is for its Panther Lake processors expected later this year or for external foundry customers. However, Panther Lake will enter mass production this year and is likely the focus of risk production. The timeline aligns with Intel’s typical risk-based production to HVM schedules.
While Intel introduced several new technologies with its canceled 20A mode, the 18A (1.8nm) chips will be the first to feature both PowerVia backside power delivery and ribbon FET gate all-around (GAA) transistors. PowerVia improves power routing performance and transistor density. Ribbon FET enhances transistor density and switching speed within a smaller area.
Intel is also advancing its wider foundry roadmap, which includes the upcoming 14A node. It’s the first to use high NA EUV lithography. Additional node extensions will expand Intel’s foundry services portfolio to serve a wider range of applications.
These developments come as Intel Foundry navigates changing macroeconomic conditions. For example, while Intel has delayed its Ohio expansion until 2030, the 18A risk production announcement aligns with positive reports on initial 18A wafer runs in Arizona, reinforcing the company’s adaptability.
Industry observers anticipate further details about Intel’s future plans at the Foundry Direct Connect event in late April, which promises to provide additional context for Intel’s current risk production efforts.
Risk production, while it sounds scary, is actually an industry-standard terminology. The importance of risk production is that we’ve gotten the technology to a point where we’re freezing it, O’Buckley explained that our customers have validated that 18A is good enough for my product, and we now have to do the risk part, which is to scale farm, making hundreds of units per day to thousands, tens of thousands, and then hundreds of thousands. Risk production is scaling our manufacturing and ensuring we can meet not just the technology’s capabilities but also those at scale.
Source: Intel announces 18A process node has entered risk production
