Intel delays rollout of 7-nanometer chips by six months

AppleInsider · July 23, 2020 9:21PM

Intel has delayed the rollout of its 7-nanometer CPUs by six months and is instead shifting focus to 10nm-based products.

Credit: Intel

The chipmaker announced the delay in its second quarter earnings report on Thursday. Previously, it anticipated shipping 7nm chips by 2021.

In its release (PDF link), Intel said the primary driver of the delay is yield issues which "based on recent data, is now trending approximately twelve months behind the company's internal target." Essentially, Intel can't manufacture 7nm chips in an economically sustainable way.

Intel said it would continue to focus on its 10nm family of chips in the interim, including new "Tiger Lake" products and planned "Ice Lake" server chips. Some current generation Macs, like the 16-inch MacBook Pro, use 10th-generation Ice Lake-based processors.

Apple, for its part, has been using 7nm chipmaking process for its A-series since 2018.

The slowing pace of development from Intel and an uptick in chip delays are likely two of the reasons why Apple is set to ditch Intel chips in favor of its own first-party Apple silicon. Apple announced the transition, which is expected to take two years, at its WWDC conference in June.

Beyond the 7nm delay, Intel reported better-than-expected earnings results for the quarter. That was largely based on continuing business from cloud service providers.

jintech · July 23, 2020 9:23PM

And this is why Apple is switching to their own silicon.

red oak · July 23, 2020 9:26PM

Apple Silicon is going to destroy Intel in the benchmarks. It will be brutal

canukstorm · July 23, 2020 9:46PM

JinTech said:

And this is why Apple is switching to their own silicon.

Apple's switch to ARM is not related to this. They were going to do it regardless.

omasou · July 23, 2020 9:50PM

canukstorm said:

JinTech said:

And this is why Apple is switching to their own silicon.

Apple's switch to ARM is not related to this. They were going to do it regardless.

Apple Si and ARM are two completely different things.

kelemor · July 23, 2020 9:51PM

canukstorm said:

JinTech said:

And this is why Apple is switching to their own silicon.

Apple's switch to ARM is not related to this. They were going to do it regardless.

Intels failures over the years to produce chips apple wanted sealed the deal. This is just flowers on top of the casket.

viclauyyc · July 23, 2020 9:51PM

canukstorm said:

JinTech said:

And this is why Apple is switching to their own silicon.

Apple's switch to ARM is not related to this. They were going to do it regardless.

Not true. Apple ditched Motorola for the very similar result.

Intel chip today is not much difference than 2 years ago. Just a little faster.

At the same time, look how much improvement in Apple A series and AMD cpu?

canukstorm · July 23, 2020 9:59PM

omasou said:

canukstorm said:

JinTech said:

And this is why Apple is switching to their own silicon.

Apple's switch to ARM is not related to this. They were going to do it regardless.

Apple Si and ARM are two completely different things.

Apple's Silicon is based on the ARM Instruction Set Architecture.

canukstorm · July 23, 2020 10:01PM

viclauyyc said:

canukstorm said:

JinTech said:

And this is why Apple is switching to their own silicon.

Apple's switch to ARM is not related to this. They were going to do it regardless.

Not true. Apple ditched Motorola for the very similar result.

Intel chip today is not much difference than 2 years ago. Just a little faster.

At the same time, look how much improvement in Apple A series and AMD cpu?

Nobody is denying that and that's besides the point. Apple's goal is control all the key technologies of their ecosystem and they were going to switch to their own custom processors regardless of how well, or poorly, Intel was going to do.

daalseth · July 23, 2020 10:18PM

viclauyyc said:

canukstorm said:

JinTech said:

And this is why Apple is switching to their own silicon.

Apple's switch to ARM is not related to this. They were going to do it regardless.

Not true. Apple ditched Motorola for the very similar result.

Intel chip today is not much difference than 2 years ago. Just a little faster.

At the same time, look how much improvement in Apple A series and AMD cpu?

I agree. Apple dropped Motorola when their chips stagnated. They did the same with PPC when they lost interest in giving Apple what they needed and wanted. Now Intel ran into a block and can’t seem to go below 10-nanometer, or get the performance or quality they promised Apple.

Apple isn’t afraid of walking away from suppliers when they can’t perform.

beats · July 23, 2020 10:40PM

canukstorm said:

viclauyyc said:

canukstorm said:

JinTech said:

And this is why Apple is switching to their own silicon.

Apple's switch to ARM is not related to this. They were going to do it regardless.

Not true. Apple ditched Motorola for the very similar result.

Intel chip today is not much difference than 2 years ago. Just a little faster.

At the same time, look how much improvement in Apple A series and AMD cpu?

Nobody is denying that and that's besides the point. Apple's goal is control all the key technologies of their ecosystem and they were going to switch to their own custom processors regardless of how well, or poorly, Intel was going to do.

If Intel provided superior tech to what Apple could do in-house, there's little to no reason why Apple would ditch them. This is why Apple still uses 3rd parties.

esquirecats · July 23, 2020 10:41PM

I daresay Apple wouldn't be dropping intel if they could keep to a reliable schedule. How was Apple expected to respond if Intel's speed bumps were largely driven by making hotter, more power consuming chips.

That is:
- why there are so many mobile chips in Apple's range of desktop machines
- why their laptop range barely gets bumps and has had no significant design changes in years
- why the entire mac range has stagnated to the point that people think Apple have given up on the Mac

Of course Apple want full control also, meaning they can further enhance the relationship between their hardware and software, have exclusive benefits in their hardware, but crucially have long term strategies in play for their hardware and device ranges.

jwsc · July 23, 2020 10:53PM

canukstorm said:

omasou said:

canukstorm said:

JinTech said:

And this is why Apple is switching to their own silicon.

Apple's switch to ARM is not related to this. They were going to do it regardless.

Apple Si and ARM are two completely different things.

Apple's Silicon is based on the ARM Instruction Set Architecture.

The ARM portion of Apple’s A Series SOCs has a fairly small footprint compared to the whole chip. It’s mostly Apple proprietary.

cpsro · July 23, 2020 10:54PM

Meanwhile... Apple (TSMC) is anticipated to roll out 5nm silicon this fall.

blastdoor · July 23, 2020 11:08PM

canukstorm said:

JinTech said:

And this is why Apple is switching to their own silicon.

Apple's switch to ARM is not related to this. They were going to do it regardless.

I wonder... Apple would have had to make the decision to go with their own Mac chips a while ago to announce it this year. Would Apple have known so far in advance that 7nm from Intel would be delayed? I doubt they could have known that for sure.

But... they did have the experience with 14nm delayed a little, then 10nm delayed a LOT. Maybe they had enough inkling about 7nm delays to affect their decision.

But I think the bigger picture is just that Intel has been slipping for years. A big part of that is because Intel no longer has an economies of scale advantage over the rest of the industry. And that's because Intel declined to compete aggressively for the smartphone SOC business.

Bottom line, I think -- if Intel had sold Apple the SOC they wanted at the price they wanted, Intel would still be leading the industry. That was probably the biggest mistake Intel has ever made and they may never recover from it.

jdb8167 · July 23, 2020 11:09PM

canukstorm said:

viclauyyc said:

canukstorm said:

JinTech said:

And this is why Apple is switching to their own silicon.

Apple's switch to ARM is not related to this. They were going to do it regardless.

Not true. Apple ditched Motorola for the very similar result.

Intel chip today is not much difference than 2 years ago. Just a little faster.

At the same time, look how much improvement in Apple A series and AMD cpu?

Nobody is denying that and that's besides the point. Apple's goal is control all the key technologies of their ecosystem and they were going to switch to their own custom processors regardless of how well, or poorly, Intel was going to do.

Apple has been working on their own Apple Silicon for macs for years. It is entirely possible that they had a heads up that Intel was going to miss their 7 nm target which prompted them to pull the trigger on the Apple Silicon release. Apple has their own targets and they need smaller, faster and lower power CPUs to hit those targets. Intel has missed their release targets for many years in a row. This was probably the final straw.

edited July 2020

strangedays · July 23, 2020 11:09PM

canukstorm said:

viclauyyc said:

canukstorm said:

JinTech said:

And this is why Apple is switching to their own silicon.

Apple's switch to ARM is not related to this. They were going to do it regardless.

Not true. Apple ditched Motorola for the very similar result.

Intel chip today is not much difference than 2 years ago. Just a little faster.

At the same time, look how much improvement in Apple A series and AMD cpu?

Nobody is denying that and that's besides the point. Apple's goal is control all the key technologies of their ecosystem and they were going to switch to their own custom processors regardless of how well, or poorly, Intel was going to do.

Largely because of crap like this...Intel has been a problem for Apple for many years, and that’s certainly a major part of why they looked into eliminating them. Had Intel been able to keep them happy of course they’d have stayed.

canukstorm · July 23, 2020 11:28PM

StrangeDays said:

canukstorm said:

viclauyyc said:

canukstorm said:

JinTech said:

And this is why Apple is switching to their own silicon.

Apple's switch to ARM is not related to this. They were going to do it regardless.

Not true. Apple ditched Motorola for the very similar result.

Intel chip today is not much difference than 2 years ago. Just a little faster.

At the same time, look how much improvement in Apple A series and AMD cpu?

Nobody is denying that and that's besides the point. Apple's goal is control all the key technologies of their ecosystem and they were going to switch to their own custom processors regardless of how well, or poorly, Intel was going to do.

Largely because of crap like this...Intel has been a problem for Apple for many years, and that’s certainly a major part of why they looked into eliminating them. Had Intel been able to keep them happy of course they’d have stayed.

Disagree. The day the 64-bit A7 SoC launched is the day Apple decided they were going to do their own silicon for Macs. It was a matter of when, not if. People working in the silicon industry have known this for years. Apple was moving away from Intel no matter what. You and the rest can believe what you want.

lkrupp · July 23, 2020 11:50PM

canukstorm said:

omasou said:

canukstorm said:

JinTech said:

And this is why Apple is switching to their own silicon.

Apple's switch to ARM is not related to this. They were going to do it regardless.

Apple Si and ARM are two completely different things.

Apple's Silicon is based on the ARM Instruction Set Architecture.

So now the geek army wants to argue about ARM vs Apple Silicon. Anything to try and diminish Apple’s achievement in this switch. The haters will insist on calling it Mac on ARM and Apple Silicon a cheap marketing trick to deceive users. Even though Apple’s SOCs will bear little resemblance to processors in other devices. But you go right ahead and bitch about it.

applepoor · July 24, 2020 12:41AM

Join the happy group watering on the Intel grave...

jintech · July 24, 2020 12:47AM

blastdoor said:

canukstorm said:

JinTech said:

And this is why Apple is switching to their own silicon.

Apple's switch to ARM is not related to this. They were going to do it regardless.

I wonder... Apple would have had to make the decision to go with their own Mac chips a while ago to announce it this year. Would Apple have known so far in advance that 7nm from Intel would be delayed? I doubt they could have known that for sure.

My guess is yes Apple knew. Think about it. Intel and Apple had to have had a talk that Apple was walking away in two years or however many it was when they talked. Intel waited a month after the announcement of Apple Silicon to announce this delay, so it would not hurt their stock price even further had they announced it around the same time Apple announced the transition.

edited July 2020

Intel delays rollout of 7-nanometer chips by six months

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