Softbank Corp, Intel announce memory chips collaboration

[siliconbruh999]

It may be Pat Gelsinger's game plan, but it is also his wishful thinking. He had invested so many resources into Intel Foundry but seems to have forgotten that the vast majority of Intel’s revenue and profit come from the Intel Product Division (the design side). Without competitive products from the Intel Product Division to sell and generate enough cash to fund Intel Foundry’s huge CapEx, his IDM 2.0 strategy won’t work, and it is killing Intel.

Intel product carried by Intel Fabs? Look at Intel Products going external and messing it up you seem to have forgotten the edge Fabs used to give to design one node ahead in the era of 0.5X Shrink with 20-25% perf/watt is a lot it's like 2 gen worth of area improvement and 1.5gen of perf/watt improvement in today's time.
It's not for Gelsinger that Intel blew up their advantage i would do the same thing and put resources into IFS though i would do it with careful planning not going overboard.

 

[hist78]

Intel product carried by Intel Fabs? Look at Intel Products going external and messing it up you seem to have forgotten the edge Fabs used to give to design one node ahead in the era of 0.5X Shrink with 20-25% perf/watt is a lot it's like 2 gen worth of area improvement and 1.5gen of perf/watt improvement in today's time.
It's not for Gelsinger that Intel blew up their advantage i would do the same thing and put resources into IFS though i would do it with careful planning not going overboard.

"Intel product carried by Intel Fabs?"

I'm not sure if I understand you clearly?

 

[siliconbruh999]

"Intel product carried by Intel Fabs?"

I'm not sure if I understand you clearly?

It was a rhetorical question

 

[Fred Chen]

a nice article by SEMIVISION, link = https://tspasemiconductor.substack.com/p/can-zam-replace-hbm-intel-and-softbank
View attachment 4148

This picture is more accurate than all those ridiculous AI-generated art with diagonals.

The idea is to have more DRAM dies stacked laterally on their sides. The interconnects between the dies are part of the package rather than going through the dies.

The referred Intel patent application is mentioned here: https://www.computerbase.de/news/ar...-memory-zam-soll-besser-als-hbm-werden.96110/

 

[tomatoma]

This picture is more accurate than all those ridiculous AI-generated art with diagonals.

The idea is to have more DRAM dies stacked laterally on their sides. The interconnects between the dies are part of the package rather than going through the dies.

The referred Intel patent application is mentioned here: https://www.computerbase.de/news/ar...-memory-zam-soll-besser-als-hbm-werden.96110/

I'm sure national research institutes are also involved, right?
Both the US and Japanese sides

 

[tomatoma]

Note: to be less confusing to my fellow blogges, here is my revised edition:

Yes, Intel missed this golden opportunity (and many other memory or non-memory opportunities over the years). I almost feel as if there is a curse placed on Intel.

Nanya Technology, a smaller memory manufacturer in Taiwan, has seen its one‑year stock performance jump almost tenfold, despite its technology being two to three generations behind Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron.

Intel, on the other hand, sold its NAND division to SK Hynix in 2020 and completed the transaction in March 2025. Intel’s intellectual property, R&D employees, and manufacturing assets related to NAND were transferred to SK Hynix through this sale. While NAND prices and demand are rising sharply, additional NAND supply is limited. Intel has lost the opportunity to participate in this NAND boom.

So DRAM and NAND are different…
I think Nanya is mainly DRAM.

 

[Fred Chen]

This picture is more accurate than all those ridiculous AI-generated art with diagonals.

The idea is to have more DRAM dies stacked laterally on their sides. The interconnects between the dies are part of the package rather than going through the dies.

The referred Intel patent application is mentioned here: https://www.computerbase.de/news/ar...-memory-zam-soll-besser-als-hbm-werden.96110/

A zoom-in on the slide confirms this picture as well: https://www.techpowerup.com/345929/...-partner-on-next-gen-z-angle-memory#g345929-2

 

[Fred Chen]

I'm sure national research institutes are also involved, right?
Both the US and Japanese sides

Seems early, but probably so, if the companies allow.

 

[hist78]

So DRAM and NAND are different…
I think Nanya is mainly DRAM.

Yes, I have understood that distinction for many years. If you have time, please read my previous three posts this thread.

I wrote that due to financial pressure, market conditions, and timing, Intel couldn’t stay in the memory manufacturing business. Now, while NAND memory is in hot demand and short supply, Intel had already sold its NAND memory division to SK Hynix in 2020. What if …

My point is that Intel repeatedly fails to gain footing in major opportunities. Intel loves to tell the world how great its technologies and products are, yet it continues to lose money and fall behind competitively. Meanwhile, Nanya, despite lagging technology and lagging products, can still capitalize on the current red‑hot memory market and generate huge profits.

Worse still, most major semiconductor companies have been making substantial profits over the past two years. Intel is one of the few that continues to lose money.

It feels like a tragic drama with different actors repeating at Intel year after year. Intel sold its ARM business just before the smartphone revolution. Intel walked away from Apple’s request to manufacture iPhone processors because it believed the volume would be too small. Intel didn't adopt EUV technology until 2023 (4 year after TSMC) because EUV didn't match Intel's product roadmap. Intel sold its NAND business before the market turned around. Intel declined the opportunity to become an OpenAI investor and hardware partner. The list goes on.

Why does Intel keep missing major opportunities? If Intel can’t compete in profitability with giants like TSMC, Nvidia, and Broadcom, and also can’t compete in profitability with much smaller companies like Nanya in a booming semiconductor market, what went wrong with Intel? Should we expect Intel to suddenly excel when the market cools down?

Intel always has good explanations for why it missed each opportunity. But in a fast moving industry, those explanations don’t help much. After so many missed chances, even the best “reasons” start to look like useless excuses.