Intel and TSMC have entered into an agreement in which they will adapt the Atom design to TSMC’s manufacturing process. TSMC is a contract foundry that makes chips for fabless* semi-conductor companies like Broadcom or NVIDIA. Intel on the contrary, usually design and manufacture its own chips.
From a logical chip design (which resembles software), each foundry has its own set of “design rules” and libraries that chip designers have to use to get their design manufactured there. Intel’s ultimate goal is to allow chip designers that currently work with TSMC to use its Atom design, just like some people use ARM’s designs today. Intel aims to take steps to end up into cellphones and the path is clearly defined: Netbooks, mobile internet devices (MID) then phones.
Today’s announcement with TSMC is a critical step from Intel to let third party integrate its Atom design into their custom system on a chip (SoC). TSMC is the largest contract foundry in the world. *”fabless” means that these companies do not have chip manufacturing facilities.
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