Intel 18A Advanced Packaging is Key to Tech Leadership

By Nitin Dahad, EETimes (August 13, 2024)

Earlier this month, Intel announced that its lead internal products on the Intel 18A process came out of the fab and have powered-on and booted their operating systems. The company indicated its first external customer for 18A will tape out in the first half of next year.

The new head of Intel Foundry Services (IFS), Kevin O’Buckley, who joined in May 2024 after running the ASIC business at Marvell Technology and previously led product and technology development at GlobalFoundries and IBM, said he believed the system-level approach addressing process technology and advanced packaging was key to putting Intel back on the technology leadership map.

In an interview with EE Times, O’Buckley emphasized that the industry cannot just continue to scale by focusing on transistor poly pitch or gate oxide thickness. “It’s now about the whole system, so for me personally, one of the biggest surprises joining Intel from the outside was to get a sense of the differentiation of their advanced packaging technologies and frankly, in many ways, the progress that’s being made in securing customers,” he said. “Five of the top ten biggest advanced packaging customers in our industry are engaging with us, using Intel Foundry team as a partner. And by that, I mean we have design wins with them.”

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