During this week’s IEDM conference, ASML presented a roadmap that suggested Intel had figured out how to keep Moore’s Law alive for another decade, culminating in a 1.4 nm node for 2029. Unfortunately, that could just be wishful thinking: Intel has told Tom’s Hardware that ASML had altered the original roadmap, which never contained any specific nodes (aside from 10 nm) and was designed to be read “more generally.” Time will tell whether Intel will actually be able to achieve a new process every two years.
The roadmap does not reveal any details about Intel’s process technology plans, other than saying that each node would be the optimal cost-performance path and introduce new features. For 7nm, that means the insertion of EUV. For 5nm, it is expected that Intel will move from tri-gate FinFETs to gate-all-around nanowires, possibly followed by stacked nanowires at later nodes.