Intel's crazy plan for 1nm silicon

FIVE NEW CHIP PRODUCTION NODES in four years. That was Intel’s plan to get back to technology leadership. It has now added a new 1nm lithography node to its roadmap, due in 2027. But here's the thing: in terms of products to buy, Intel has achieved little of its original plan. So, what’s going on?

- Jeremy Laird

First, we need to understand the true implications of Intel’s existing plan for new chip nodes. In reality, it added up to far fewer than five nodes. Officially, the new nodes in question are Intel 7, Intel 4, Intel 3, Intel 20A, and Intel 18A.

Intel 7 is really just a rebrand and tweak of its existing and troubled 10nm node, Intel 3 is derived from Intel 4, and the same applies to Intel 18A in relation to Intel 20A. In which case, at the time of announcing that seemingly ambitious five-nodesin-four-years roadmap, Intel was only committing to two fully new nodes: Intel 4 and Intel 20A.