Samsung has reportedly signed a contract to produce GPUs for Intel. The news comes from local news outlet Chosun, which echoed a report from SemiAccurate claiming that the Korean electronics giant will be producing up to 15,000 wafers per month for Intel at its Austin Foundry Plant located in Texas.
“Samsung Electronics’ Austin plant makes semiconductors with a 14-nanometer process,” Chosun noted. “‘Since the central processing unit (CPU) has a chance to be made with a finer process than this, it is possible that the amount Intel leaves to the Austin plant of Samsung Electronics is GPU.'”
The rumor suggests that Intel is eager to outsource GPU production to multiple companies. Just last week, Reuters published a story about how the chip giant was planning to make a deal with TSMC to produce its new “DG2” GPU on a 7-nanometer process. The GPU will reportedly be powerful enough to challenge NVIDIA and AMD’s options to some degree.
“If the outsourcing contract for Samsung Electronics’ Austin Fab is true, it is likely that Intel focused on the advantages of the dual vendor utilization plan with Samsung Electronics as two suppliers rather than TSMC’s exclusive contract,” Meritz Securities analyst Kim Sun-woo said. “Instead of pushing the quantity to one place, it will diversify its supply lines and attach quality and price competition.”