Intel Corp., trying to win customers as a provider of outsourced chip manufacturing, is working with Arm Ltd. to potentially use that company’s technology in its factories.
(Bloomberg) — Intel Corp., trying to win customers as a provider of outsourced chip manufacturing, is working with Arm Ltd. to potentially use that company’s technology in its factories.
The agreement, announced Wednesday, will allow designers of mobile-phone chips to use Intel as a manufacturer for a production technique called 18A. The two companies will focus on so-called mobile system-on-chip designs first, but later may expand into automotive components, data centers, aerospace and other areas, according to a joint statement.
The tie-up is the latest step in Intel Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger’s plan to restore the company’s chip industry dominance. By opening his factories to rivals, he’s trying to claw back ground lost to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Samsung Electronics Co. — companies that surged ahead in manufacturing prowess.
Cambridge, UK-based Arm, meanwhile, is shoring up ties in the industry ahead of a planned initial public offering later this year. The company’s designs and intellectual property are already vital to smartphones and are making inroads in the server and personal computer markets.
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Gelsinger has promised to return Intel to the cutting edge of production technology. The company’s push into outsourced chipmaking — a field known as foundry services — is also meant to offset a overconcentration of manufacturing in East Asia, particularly Taiwan.
Intel, based in Santa Clara, California, has embarked on an ambitious build-out of new plants as part of the effort and announced agreements with companies such as Qualcomm Inc. But so far its outsourcing revenue is less than a billion dollars a year — a tiny fraction of its $63 billion in annual revenue — and the unit is losing money.
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