Intel and Arm will work together to produce new chips. ARM customers can bring their ARM-based designs to Intel’s factories.

Intel and Arm will work together. The chip designer arm works with Intel Foundry Services (IFS) for the production of new microchips. ARM doesn’t suddenly start baking chips itself, but strikes an agreement to adapt new ARM designs to IFS’ 18A baking process. That means new ARM designs are optimized for Intel’s production lines, so customers who want to integrate the designs into their own chips can go straight to Intel’s US and European factories.

Intel technology in ARM designs

Intel 18A is a future baking process that is equivalent to 1.8nm. Chips based on this process will not roll off the production line before the second half of 2024. ARM can already align its ARM designs for Cortex CPUs, for example, with Intel’s production processes. For example, the British chip designer can use Intel-specific technologies such as PowerVia and RibbonFET transistors in his designs.

The cooperation is a great success for IFS. Intel has extensive manufacturing capabilities and is the only player in the world that designs and manufactures chips on a large scale. Design and production are mostly separate (as with Nvidia and AMD, for example, who turn to manufacturer TSMC). For its part, Intel has never sought to open up its manufacturing capabilities to third parties, but that has changed under CEO Pat Gelsinger.

Earn extra money

With IFS, Intel wants to react to the high demand for chip production in the market. This creates an additional revenue stream and allows Intel to capitalize on sectors that are underperforming. Intel itself doesn’t have mobile chips for smartphones, for example, but can now make a penny by baking copies of Arm. Intel had previously entered into a similar agreement with MediaTek.

For its part, Arm offers access to advanced manufacturing capabilities with factories in Europe and the United States. This in turn is attractive for its own customers like Qualcomm.