Intel is eyeing TSMC‘s 5nm process for manufacturing its 14th Gen Core “Meteor Lake” CPUs in an effort to mirror Apple’s M1 series of chips, says a DigiTimes report.
As noted by MacRumors, Intel’s Meteor Lake chips will be its first multi-chiplet design to integrate an application processor, graphics processing unit, and connection chips into a single Intel Foveros advanced package.
Intel has initially announced that its Meteor Lake CPUs would be manufactured using its own “Intel 4” 7nm process. During its most recent earnings call, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said that Meteor Lake would be the first Intel product made using Intel 4 and that prototypes had already successfully booted Windows 12 and Linux.
Now, the DigiTimes report says that Intel is considering working with Apple chip supplier TSMC for all of the chip blocks used in the Meteor Lake CPUs. The Meteor Lake chip blocks would be contracted out to be manufactured with TSMC’s 5nm process, just like Apple’s M1 chips for the Mac.
Apple uses TSMC’s 5nm process to manufacture the A14 Bionic, A15 Bionic, M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra chips, are manufactured using TSMC’s 5nm process. Using that same process could allow Intel’s Meteor Lake chips to better compete with Apple’s custom silicon.
Intel’s Meteor Lake CPUs are set to launch in 2023.