Intel close to tapping Samsung for 8nm chip development

While TSMC remains a fierce competitor in advanced process nodes, Samsung's legacy nodes are quite mature and inspire confidence among customers. It has gradually been racking up more orders for chipmaking on these nodes, and the latest contract may be coming from Intel.

New reports suggest that Intel may soon tap Samsung Foundry to develop an 8nm chip on its process, joining other major customers who have recently turned to Samsung for this process node.

Reports claim that Samsung Foundry is in the final stages to begin mass production of Intel's Platform Controller Hub chip on its 8nm process. This chip will be used in Intel's CPUs. Samsung Foundry is expected to begin full scale production of this chip next year.

Intel was previously getting its 14nm PCH produced at Samsung's 14nm foundry line in Austin, Texas. It's turning to Samsung once again for the 8nm PCH which will reportedly be manufactured at the company's existing production line in Hwaseong, South Korea.

If it all pans out, this deal will be another major win for Samsung's 8nm process. Earlier this year, it won orders from NVIDIA to produce the GPU used for the Nintendo Switch 2. NVIDIA reportedly has Samsung making additional low-end GPUs on its 8nm process.

It's believed that Samsung's production capacity on this process technology is between 30,000 – 40,000 wafers per month. It's adequate enough that the company may quickly ramp up production if additional customers want to tap its 8nm node as well.