The intention by Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) of switching to 10nm manufacturing will now be delayed until the second half of 2017 according to reports from the Company. This could probably explain the challenges being faced by Moore’s Law and will perhaps end the Company’s “tick-tock” strategy.
The Company has also confirmed that it will be building a third generation of processors on its 14nm process. Intel has been going through a staggering operational release schedule since 2007 which alternated manufacturing process shrinks—”ticks” with “tocks” that is an essential micro-architectural improvement.
Reports have it that Intel will later in the year release the first Skylake processors that will continue to be built in 14nm. However, the initial plan for Skylake to be taken over by Cannonlake did not go through. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich confirmed that the migration to 14nm was more puzzling than it has been anticipated. There were also additional issues to do with the previous migration to 22nm.
Meanwhile having realized that Transitioning to 10nm isn’t going to be any better, Intel has chosen to prolong the timelines. The pushback for Cannonlake has been taken to the second half of 2017. In the meantime, there will be a third release of an interim “lake” generation processor that will continue to use the 14nm process.
From what was termed as news leakage, the processor is going by the name Kaby Lake whose availability is likely to be in a range of lines from a 4.5W laptop part up to 80W dual-socket server.
However, even as all this takes place, Krzanich has explained that this is not bringing tick tock to an end. Instead, Intel’s desire has been to have a more regular two year-per-process timeframe. Nevertheless, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) has been having difficulties to an extent of changing plans which clearly explains how it has been struggling to keep up with the pace of Moore’s Law.
Going by the rule of thumb described by Intel’s Gordon Moore, transistor densities will double every 18-24 months. Also for future processes, more sophisticated manufacturing and exotic technology will be required.
