According to a report from TrendForce, Intel is planning to outsource its 13th Gen CPU lineup to TSMC’s advanced process foundries. While the lower-end Core i3 chips will be fabbed on the 5nm EUV process, the higher-end Core i5 and i7 series CPUs will leverage the cutting-edge 3nm node. The processors fabbed on these advanced process nodes are expected to come to the market in the first half of 2023, following the Alder Lake lineup which is expected in late 2021.
Meanwhile, the server chips will continue to be produced at Intel’s in-house fabs, namely the 7nm and 5nm nodes which are comparable to TSMC’s 5nm and 3nm nodes, respectively. This means that Intel’s 7nm Xeon processors will compete with AMD Genoa which will be fabbed on TSMC’s 5nm EUV node, leveling the playing ground.
Intel’s Alder Lake-S desktop CPUs will compete with the Ryzen 5000XT (Vermeer refresh/Warhol) and the Ryzen 6000 series lineup (Raphael) which in-turn will leverage the Zen 4 core in combination with TSMC’s 5nm EUV process. As you can expect, Intel should hold a sizable lead over Warhol, but the Zen 4 parts should snatch it right back.
After this, both roadmaps become a bit murky. AMD can continue to use the 5nm process, or opt for its refined 4nm variant, or perhaps jump right to 3nm. Intel will be basing its 13th Gen lineup succeeding Alder Lake on TSMC’s sub-5nm nodes for the most part, with the entry-level offerings utilizing the 5nm process.
