Intel 14A risk production in 2028, HVM in 2029: Lip-Bu Tan at CISCO AI Summit 3 Feb 2026

[user nl]

Nice to see LBT speak about IF at CISCO AI summit yesterday, he starts around 48 minutes:

It seems no more uncertainty about 14A, it will ramp.......

 

[siliconbruh999]

So they said Risk Production was 2027 in the IFS Connect 2025 now it's 2028 are they moving timelines?

[News] Intel Ramps Up Foundry Race: 14A Risk Production in 2027; 18A Variants Drop in 2026 and 2028

Shortly after TSMC announced plans to mass-produce A14 in 2028, Intel appears ready to compete with an aggressive roadmap for 14A and 18A. According t...

www.trendforce.com

 

[user nl]

So they said Risk Production was 2027 in the IFS Connect 2025 now it's 2028 are they moving timelines?

[News] Intel Ramps Up Foundry Race: 14A Risk Production in 2027; 18A Variants Drop in 2026 and 2028

Shortly after TSMC announced plans to mass-produce A14 in 2028, Intel appears ready to compete with an aggressive roadmap for 14A and 18A. According t...

www.trendforce.com

That's what LBT says at 51:40

LBT clearly has two major concerns regarding 14A, the variability of the yield and the IP availability. It seems they simply need more time to get that in a better shape. He only wants 5 or 10% of a major product of early customers for 14A to commit to that so that he can get the trust of those companies.

So perhaps Apple, NVIDIA, Microsoft will commit to some small wafer orders to be manufactured in 2029........He will not give the names of the intended customers that he hopes will sign purchase agreements in H2-2026.

I think this may be quite smart (humble) timing of INTEL, these customers have their main orders with TSMC being made in 2028, they trust that that will come. And then INTEL will deliver some small overflow capacity in 2029 of say 5-10%. In that way these customers do not risk major parts of their production if INTEL fails. Makes sense for both sides.

Will be interesting to see if TSMC now goes full in on A14, scheduled for HVM in 2028? They have started building the new fab for A14:
https://en.eeworld.com.cn/news/manufacture/eic712929.html#:~:text=Furthermore, TSMC notified its customers,platform officially put into operation.

 

[siliconbruh999]

I think this may be quite smart (humble) timing of INTEL, these customers have their main orders with TSMC being made in 2028, they trust that that will come. And then INTEL will deliver some small overflow capacity in 2029 of say 5-10%. In that way these customers do not risk major parts of their production if INTEL fails. Makes sense for both sides.

problem is small volume won't justify 14A it needs big volume also i think that 28 risk production is for external and 27 for Internal

 

[IanD]

That's what LBT says at 51:40

LBT clearly has two major concerns regarding 14A, the variability of the yield and the IP availability. It seems they simply need more time to get that in a better shape. He only wants 5 or 10% of a major product of early customers for 14A to commit to that so that he can get the trust of those companies.

So perhaps Apple, NVIDIA, Microsoft will commit to some small wafer orders to be manufactured in 2029........He will not give the names of the intended customers that he hopes will sign purchase agreements in H2-2026.

I think this may be quite smart (humble) timing of INTEL, these customers have their main orders with TSMC being made in 2028, they trust that that will come. And then INTEL will deliver some small overflow capacity in 2029 of say 5-10%. In that way these customers do not risk major parts of their production if INTEL fails. Make sense for boith sides.

Will be interesting to see if TSMC now goes full in on A14, scheduled for HVM in 2028? They have started building the new fab for A14:
https://en.eeworld.com.cn/news/manufacture/eic712929.html#:~:text=Furthermore, TSMC notified its customers,platform officially put into operation.

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I hate the way they always pick a comparison that makes something look artificially good -- why isn't the comparison A14 vs. N2P, which is the real alternative?

(which claims 5% more speed and 10% lower power than N2, meaning A14 would presumably give 5~10% more speed and 10~20% lower power, rather less attractive...)