Intel Foundry Services partners with the company MediaTek to assist in producing chips for intelligent edge devices
The timing of the partnership is ideal in that Intel, along with the US semiconductor industry, is planning to receive increased subsidies from the government to assist with boosting chip fabrication in the United States. Intel is set to fabricate its 16nm chips for MediaTek, a redesign of the previous 22FFL node that was which is an older process moved to Legacy process but is great for low-power devices. Intel states that the partnership is anticipated to not only be a long-lasting one but also reach past just intelligent edge devices. TSMC produces most of the chips for MediaTek, but the company is looking to achieve a more significant supply chain. To do this, MediaTek will need to add chip production locations in the US and Europe, which IFS currently has available in both sectors. Currently, there’s no word from Intel on the specific time when MediaTek’s products will ship, but comments that the Intel 16nm will be the first revisions of the silicon seen to clients this year but will see higher volumes beginning in 2023. Currently, MediaTek manufactures over two billion devices each year, so it is unknown when MediaTek will switch the chips to the blue team’s chip line. It is also unknown how much of the production of MediaTek’s smart edge devices using Intel’s chips will come from the US and Europe. Most processors available on the market are older and established legacy nodes and not newer technology we have reported over the last few years. However, readers will remember that Intel ensured that the roadmap the company created last year was to design five new nodes over the next four years. “As one of the world’s leading fabless chip designers powering more than 2 billion devices a year, MediaTek is a terrific partner for IFS as we enter our next phase of growth,” said IFS President Randhir Thakur. “We have the right combination of advanced process technology and geographically diverse capacity to help MediaTek deliver the next billion connected devices across a range of applications.”
