5 nodes in 4 years. This is what Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger promised Intel’s customers, investors, and the world at large back in 2021, when he laid out Intel’s ambitious plan to regain leadership in the foundry space. After losing Intel’s long-held spot as the top fab in the world thanks to compounding delays in the 2010s, the then-new Intel CEO bucked calls from investors to sell off Intel’s fabs, and instead go all-in on fabs like Intel has never done before, to become a top-to-bottom foundry service for the entire world to use.
Now a bit over two years later, and Intel is just starting to see the first fruits from that aggressive roadmap, both in terms of technologies and customers. Products based on Intel’s first EUV-based node, Intel 4, are available in the market today, and its high-volume counterpart, Intel 3, is ready as well. Meanwhile, Intel is putting the final touches on its first Gate-All-Around (GAAFET)/RibbonFET for 2024 and 2025. It’s a heady time for the company, but it’s also a critical one. Intel has reached the point where they need to deliver on those promises – and they need to do so in a very visible way.
To that end, today Intel’s Foundry group – the artist formally known as Intel Foundry Services – is holding its first conference, Direct Connect. And even more than being a showcase for customers and press, this is Intel’s coming-out party for the fab industry as a whole, where Intel’s foundry (and only Intel’s foundry) gets the spotlight, a rarity in the massive business that is Intel.
