Intel has fully detailed its 18A (1.8nm-class) process at VLSI 2025, highlighting major performance, power, and density improvements enabled by RibbonFET transistors and PowerVia backside power delivery.
That being said I don’t trust Lip-Bu Tan to deliver.
The thing I struggle with about this is understanding how much impact a single person actually has on this stuff, especially since all the fab stuff has been in motion for so long already (2021 called). He’s fired / is firing a bunch more people than his predecessor, but beyond that I basically don’t even really know what medium-term effect he has on a 130,000-120,000-110,000-100,000- 90,000-strong company vs Gelsinger.
While it’s true that in an industry like semiconductors multi-year end to end product cycles make it difficult to make radical changes. I am still not convinced Lip-Bu Tan will be a positive force since he seems to emphasizing generic business communication polemics.
One example would his statement about only working on projects that offer 50% gross margins. That’s great and all, but a company in Intel’s position and with competition like TSMC is going to find that challenging.
The thing I struggle with about this is understanding how much impact a single person actually has on this stuff, especially since all the fab stuff has been in motion for so long already (2021 called). He’s fired / is firing a bunch more people than his predecessor, but beyond that I basically don’t even really know what medium-term effect he has on a
130,000-120,000-110,000-100,000-90,000-strong company vs Gelsinger.While it’s true that in an industry like semiconductors multi-year end to end product cycles make it difficult to make radical changes. I am still not convinced Lip-Bu Tan will be a positive force since he seems to emphasizing generic business communication polemics.
One example would his statement about only working on projects that offer 50% gross margins. That’s great and all, but a company in Intel’s position and with competition like TSMC is going to find that challenging.