Intel proposed the "IDM 2.0" strategy this year, announcing that it will build a world-class Intel foundry service (IFS) and expand the use of third-party foundry capacity. Meanwhile, Intel and Apple are grabbing capacity for TSMC's N3 process node, and the rumors involve four products, including GPU modules for manufacturing Meteor Lake to be released in 2023, and some modules based on Ponte Vecchio. In the future, the relationship between Intel and TSMC is both a partner and a competitor.
According to DigiTime, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger will meet with TSMC President Wei Zhejia to discuss N3 process node capacity and some future cooperation details. Due to the existence of a certain competitive relationship between the two parties, it is estimated that the impact of specific cooperation on the advantages and disadvantages of their respective operations will be weighed. It is understood that the cooperation between Intel and TSMC will continue at least until the post-N2 process node era in 2025. With the deepening of cooperation, Intel is expected to leap into the top three customers of TSMC in 2023, becoming a key source of TSMC's revenue growth in the next few years.
For TSMC, there are not many customers who use advanced processes below the N7 process node because the cost is too high. A large part of the customers also stay in the N7 process node. At present, the users of TSMC's N5 and below process nodes include Apple, MediaTek, Qualcomm, AMD, Nvidia, Xilinx, Google, Tesla and some manufacturers Chinese mainland, and the capacity demand of individual customers is not large. At the N3 process node, only Apple and Intel are left. Because Intel's demand for advanced technology capacity is quite urgent, and the demand for production capacity is large, it will accelerate TSMC's recovery of R&D costs.
![Yield rate exceeded expectations! TSMC CEO said the 3nm process was put into production in the second half of this year[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)