Microsoft Will Use Intel To Manufacture Home-Grown Processor (yahoo.com) 30
Intel has landed Microsoft as a customer for its made-to-order chip business, marking a key win for an ambitious turnaround effort under Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger. From a report: Microsoft plans to use Intel's 18A manufacturing technology to make a forthcoming chip that the software maker designed in-house, the two companies said at an event Wednesday. They didn't identify the product, but Microsoft recently announced plans for two homegrown chips: a computer processor and an artificial intelligence accelerator.
Intel has been seeking to prove it can compete in the foundry market, where companies produce custom chips for clients. It's a major shift for the semiconductor pioneer, which once had the world's most advanced chipmaking facilities and kept them to itself. These days, Intel is racing to catch up with companies like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which leads the foundry industry. Microsoft, meanwhile, is looking to secure a steady supply of semiconductors to power its data-center operations -- especially as demand for AI grows. Designing its own chips also lets Microsoft fine-tune the products to its specific needs. "We need a reliable supply of the most advanced, high-performance and high-quality semiconductors," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement. âoeThat's why we are so excited to work with Intel."
Intel has been seeking to prove it can compete in the foundry market, where companies produce custom chips for clients. It's a major shift for the semiconductor pioneer, which once had the world's most advanced chipmaking facilities and kept them to itself. These days, Intel is racing to catch up with companies like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which leads the foundry industry. Microsoft, meanwhile, is looking to secure a steady supply of semiconductors to power its data-center operations -- especially as demand for AI grows. Designing its own chips also lets Microsoft fine-tune the products to its specific needs. "We need a reliable supply of the most advanced, high-performance and high-quality semiconductors," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement. âoeThat's why we are so excited to work with Intel."
Can't spell (Score:3, Funny)
He apparently doesn't know how to spell AMD.
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> He apparently doesn't know how to spell AMD.
Apparently you don't know how to read.
Microsoft plans to use Intel's 18A manufacturing technology to make a forthcoming chip that the software maker designed in-house
The chip is designed in-house at Microsoft. They are only using Intel for their 18A manufacturing, which is ahead.
Re:Can't spell (Score:5, Informative)
They are only using Intel for their 18A manufacturing, which is ahead.
Is it though? Intel 18A is on their roadmap for 2024 completion. I would not call it ahead until Intel can make chips at 18A and at acceptable yields. Remember Intel was stuck on 10nm for 5 years. They could make chips during those 5 years but the yields were low.
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Maybe Intel is banking on terrible yields but Microsoft's chips are simpler/smaller ARM chips and they can get more non-failed yield per wafer.
Re:Can't spell (Score:4, Informative)
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The chip is designed in-house at Microsoft.
As is Windows, Office, 365... I fully expect the USG to create a special exemption for these things to allow them all to be exported to China. If sanctions don't work, send 'em Microsoft-designed chips instead.
Re:Can't spell (Score:5, Informative)
He apparently doesn't know how to spell AMD.
AMD is fabless and manufactures nothing.
AMD hasn't made a single chip since 2009.
Re:Can't spell (Score:5, Informative)
I believe AMD is spelled TSMC.
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Well, AMD uses TSMC now, but AMD's fab business was spun off as GlobalFoundries.
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AMD is great, but I don't see them being able to fab any CPUs. AMD uses TSMC for their fabs.
Intel has fabs and process nodes, and you have to go through a fab if you want to see silicon, and you don't have that many choices for a modern CPU. You can go Intel, you can go TSMC, or maybe even go SMIC, depending on export/import regs.
AMD is just another fabless designer these days. Had they kept their fabs, things might have been far better, or far worse.
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Quote: "We need a reliable supply of the most advanced, high-performance and high-quality semiconductors," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement. "That's why we are so excited to work with Intel."
He apparently doesn't know how to spell AMD.
No, he was right. He's just using Microsoft(TM)'s definitions of "advanced", "performance" and "quality".
Wow.... (Score:1)
First time for BSOD on a CPU level!!!!
LOL....life never ceases to amaze me.
MicroShit CPU? No thanks.... (Score:1)
These people have so far fucked up everything they touched or attempted to make. This will be no different.
Re:MicroShit CPU? No thanks.... (Score:4, Interesting)
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but they will fix the fuck ups because their bottom line will depend on it.
I highly doubt that. They will declare them "features" instead and then depend on people that have a Microsoft "strategy" (how pathetic) to make it work.
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Not exactly: long long ago, they had a superior model of mice: Microsoft 2.0a. Of course, it was a ball mouse thus would be inferior to anything modern, but for its time, it did shine.
So there is one -- singular one -- good product in their whole 48 years history, of a half-a-trillion-dollar company (by assets+cash, that "market cap" fairy tale is above $1T). Anything else they ever made is crap.
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Well, they bought that design and they refrained for a long time from making it worse. Agreed. I know about this one exception, but that really was the only one.
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Seems it was made by Alps Electric rather than Microsoft, which explains the lack of suckage. There are more good things Microsoft bought: like eg the Consolas font by Luc de Groot; they commissioned a set of fonts from an external foundry despite having a foundry department on their own -- apparently someone competent realized their own fonts have quality on par with the rest of their products.
But, the good mice being made by an external contractor invalidates my argument. Your point prevails: Microsoft
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Nah, that would be the Microsoft Trackball Explorer, on Amazon and eBay for $500 since its discontinuance.
The Elecom DEFT is a suitable alternative if you don't like the Kensington Expert Mouse trackball.
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It's from about the same time, thus I guess only the external design changed. So it's a different model of the same product -- ie, distinct enough to count as two items for "what to buy?" but only one for "only good thing Microsoft ever made". (And it turns out it was Alps Electric on a contract, not Microsoft itself.)
File it under: Competing with Your Vendors (Score:2)
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Can't Wait! (Score:4, Funny)
You guys are dumb (Score:3)
"Wah, wah, wah, Microsoft is a software company, what does it know about chips?"
Amazon has been buying custom Intel chips for AWS data centers for years. Years! Why should Microsoft Azure be any different?
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Adding to this, AWS also builds its own CPUs and networking gear using its own silicon designed by subsidiary Annapurna Labs [wikipedia.org].
See AWS Graviton CPUs [wikipedia.org] and Nitro networking for more information.