Intel's partner shares chip giant's manufacturing process technology roadmap: 7nm EUV in 2021, then 5nm in 2023, 3nm in 2025, 2nm in 2027, and 1.4 nm in 2029
One of the interesting disclosures here at the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) has been around new and upcoming process node technologies.
Context & Ripple Effects
At the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting, a partner speaking on Intel's behalf put dates on the post-10nm era just months after Intel itself had shared its roadmap through 2023 with a first 7nm product targeted for 2021. The disclosure commits Intel to EUV lithography at 7nm — the technology chipmakers were only weighing for mass production back when Moore's Law slowdown made EUV adoption an open question in 2016.
First-order effects
- Customers and partners now have dated milestones through 2029 — 7nm EUV in 2021 stepping down to 1.4nm — that make Intel's execution measurable year by year rather than negotiable slide-ware.
- TSMC's published cadence, with high-volume 3nm production starting in H2 2022 versus Intel's 3nm slot in 2025, frames this roadmap as a two-to-three-year race gap that buyers of leading-edge wafers can price directly.
Second-order effects
- Intel's actual node timeline diverged from these dates: its first EUV node shipped as Intel 4 in 2022 with claimed 21.5% higher frequencies or 40% power reduction versus Intel 7, forcing a renamed and resequenced roadmap to stay credible against TSMC.
- By 2024 the cadence pressure had produced a new unannounced tier — leaked slides putting Intel's 14A in 2026 and a first 1nm-class Intel 10A in late 2027 — effectively re-running this 2019 exercise with tighter spacing.
Third-order effects
- Process roadmaps disclosed at technical forums like IEDM have hardened into competitive instruments: once one player publishes dated nodes, rivals must counter-publish or concede the perception of falling behind, tying foundry credibility to hitting announced cadences regardless of slips.
The trend: Leading-edge logic is consolidating around whichever manufacturer can hold a public EUV-era node cadence, turning roadmap disclosures themselves into the battleground between Intel and TSMC.