With its manufacturing fabs stretched thin, Intel has begun seeking the assistance of other industry giants to keep its CPUs flowing. Chipzilla’s latest partner is Samsung, which will produce its 14 nm “Rocket Lake” processors for mini PCs.
Mass production will begin in Q4 2020, and the chips will be released in 2021. This lines up with a leaked roadmap from April, which alluded to 4-core and 6-core parts with 14 nm graphics.
There are possibly many reasons why Intel went with Samsung for its CPU manufacturing, with number one being the trade war between China and the US. While TSMC is available, it is also connected with AMD as it manufactures most of its silicon products. Another thing to consider is that Samsung is very much looking forward to accommodating Intel’s CPU manufacturing, as its own thriving memory business is tied closely to Intel CPUs as far as the overall market is concerned.