In addition to a problematic outlook into the future and the announcement of a DG2 GPU for the coming year, Intel has announced the figures for the third quarter 2020 talked about the plans for the processors and the current developments.

So you already have started to deliver the first samples of the Alder Lake and Sapphire Rapids processors. Last week a first picture of an Alder Lake processor for the LGA socket 1700 appeared . As Alder Lake-S, the processors should transfer the hybrid approach known from Lakefield to the desktop. Sapphire Rapids, on the other hand, are the future Xeon processors that are to follow Ice Lake-SP. Both are said to be in the nm SuperFin Technology

Alder Lake-S will be the successor to Rocket Lake (for the first quarter 2021 announced) expected in the fourth quarter 2021. This also applies to Sapphire Rapids. Even if Intel does not want to officially confirm this yet: Ice Lake-SP will no longer come onto the market this year – the sparrows have been whistling it from the (OEM) roofs for weeks. Originally, Intel wanted the Xeon processors with Sunny Cove cores and in 10 nm already manufactured 2019 bring to market. With Cascade Lake and Cooper Lake, Intel has two intermediate generations in 14 nm inserted and can now apparently no longer keep the deadline 2019.

After the postponement, Intel sees production in 7 nm again on schedule. At least until 2022 an external production will remain an option. As of 2021 larger chips should be transferred to TSMC. Including the Xe-HPC-GPU Ponte Vecchio. But other projects such as the Xe-HPG-GPU (Gaming, DG2) are also candidates for external production.

“So as we think about 2023 and beyond, we’re looking at the products required at that time. And we’re evaluating our process versus other third-party processes. (…) it’s probably a mix in terms of the best path to ensure that we had a predictable cadence of leadership products for 2023 and 2024 like we believe we will have in 2020, 2021 and 2022. “

At least until 2021 Intel is planning with partially external production. Then one will have to see how far one has progressed with regard to 7 nm. But it would also be conceivable that this for 2023 and 2024 is the case. The corresponding decisions will be made in the coming years.