Intel and Arm are usually rivals in the ongoing chip wars. But on Wednesday, the two companies announced a deal that will see Intel manufacture mobile-focused Arm processors for customers.
Arm struck the deal with Intel’s relatively new foundry business, which focuses on building computer chips for third-party clients, including x86 and Arm processors. Intel’s Foundry Services is aiming to recruit clients like Apple and Nvidia, which have often relied on chip manufacturing from Taiwan’s TSMC and Samsung.
Wednesday’s deal covers a “multigeneration agreement” to help customers build Arm chips on Intel’s upcoming 18A manufacturing node, which is scheduled to start mass production in late 2024, although it's not clear when it’ll be used for the company’s foundry business.
For now, Intel and Arm said: “The collaboration will focus on mobile SoC (system-on-chip) designs first, but allow for potential design expansion into automotive, Internet of Things (IoT), data center, aerospace and government applications.”
The deal opens the door for Intel to more easily attract customers to its foundry business. Meanwhile, Arm's own clients, which include companies across the tech industry, can source next-generation processor designs to an additional manufacturer, outside TSMC and Samsung, following the historic chip shortage of 2021.
Intel is preparing to build new foundries in both the US and Europe. In addition, Intel’s 18A technology is meant to be competitive against TSMC’s upcoming 2-nanometer manufacturing process, which is rumored to also arrive in 2025.
Both Intel and Arm add that the 18A process promises to deliver “breakthrough transistor technologies for improved power and performance.” The companies plan on working together to optimize Arm designs for Intel’s chip manufacturing technologies too.
“There is growing demand for computing power driven by the digitization of everything, but until now fabless customers have had limited options for designing around the most advanced mobile technology,” Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said in the announcement.