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Intel is the only remaining integrated device manufacturer (IDM) with a cutting-edge foundry business dedicated almost exclusively to its own products. From 2011 - 2015, Intel portrayed its unique status as a robust positive. Because it designs and builds its own CPUs, Intel can theoretically take advantage of much tighter working relationships than exist between any pure-play foundry like TSMC and its various customers. Intel CPUs are designed specifically for Intel process nodes, using a restricted, Intel-specific set of rules intended to maximize performance and energy efficiency on a given

Intel has led the semiconductor industry in new node deployments and process technology for many years, but the company started to put particular emphasis on that leadership as it prepared to battle ARM in the mobile market in 2011 - 2012. At the time, Intel enjoyed a full node advantage over its rivals and was the first company to deploy FinFETs. As it entered the mobile market, Intel was happy to talk up the advantage it would gain from superior manufacturing technology. Those advantages mostly didn't materialize. We've discussed the economics behind Intel's failure to win mobile market shar

There's yet another question buried in these discussions -- exactly how much does process node leadership matter in an era where each node's improvements are smaller than the one before? This point has ramifications beyond Intel. Only certain kinds of silicon designs benefit from moving to FinFETs in the first place, which is why GlobalFoundries has created its 22FDX and 12FDX FD-SOI offerings. EUV will need to be cost-effective before some designs that could benefit from smaller geometries can afford to move to the new node. And even before Intel had to delay its 10nm node, the company had ma