Samsung, TSMC and GlobalFoundires now have some serious competition

Sep 18, 2012 00:11 GMT  ·  By

We all know that Intel has the world’s largest semiconductor FABs and that the company actually is the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer and designer, but it seems that the giant also wants a piece of the foundry business.

Intel is reportedly getting ready to open its FABs for some select customers and, considering the current market situation, the company might end up competing with TSMC and Samsung or GlobalFoundries.

We’ve heard this news before and we knew back then that Intel was interested in allowing small companies with interesting or revolutionary designs to use its manufacturing capacities for a fee just like TSMC operates.

The giant is mainly interested in experimenting with various designs on other people’s dime while also surveying new technologies and companies that it might eventually acquire.

The thing is that now, with the smartphone and tablet market on a surge, there is a great need for advanced manufacturing that TSMC, GlobalFoundries and Samsung are not able to satisfy.

Intel, with its huge manufacturing capacity and the world’s most advanced semiconductor technology will become a very tempting option for companies like Qualcomm or Apple that currently are in dire need for more 28nm capacity and Intel’s 22nm sounds a whole lot better.

The company has already made public its intention of working with small and select companies with interesting, complex and innovative FPGA designs and other technologies, but made no claim that it will compete with TSMC or other foundries.

Currently Intel needs to manufacture enough CPUs to power over 300 million PCs all over the globe, but as the tabet market is said to reach over 400 million units in the next few years, the company might want a piece of that market also.

Therefore even if the company’s FABs are now busy making enough x86 CPUs to power the company’s 80% market share, when the tablet market will surpass 300 million units the scenario might change is a surprising manner.