Intel’s push to regain technological leadership in lithography in the second half of the decade could not go unanswered by the current leader, Taiwanese company TSMC, which said this week it would master production. Number of 1.6nm chips by the second half of 2026.

For these statements, TSMC management used the platform of the North American Technology Symposium in California; This indirectly implied not only competition with Intel in this field, but also TSMC’s readiness to implement advanced technology on American soil. Let us remind you that in this decade, the obligation to establish chip production using 2 nm technology in the USA became one of the conditions for TSMC to receive subsidies from the country’s authorities. So far, there is no information about whether the 1.6 nm process will be managed by TSMC’s American businesses and under what conditions this will happen.

TSMC representatives explained that only 1.6 nm technology can significantly increase the density and speed of logical elements. Meanwhile, in addition to the ambient gate transistor structure that rival Samsung has started to use within the scope of the 3 nm technological process, it is reported that TSMC will also use the power supply from the back of the silicon wafer. Release of chips based on A16 technology. Intel plans to use such a solution when launching chips based on 20A and 18A technologies from 2025.

As a reminder, Intel will master the 14A technical process by the end of 2026 or early 2027, but differences in manufacturers’ approaches to evaluating the main geometric parameters of lithography technologies do not allow direct comparison of lithography technologies. Solutions from different manufacturers. In any case, TSMC will dominate the A16 process by 2026, and Samsung will launch 1.4nm class chips by 2027.