14 DAY TRIAL // Intel has recently acknowledged its chip supply issues, releasing a public apology on its website to explain that the company is making efforts to boost production in its facilities.
By the looks of things, one of the contractors that help Intel resolve the delays impacting its chip business is none other than Samsung, as the South Korean manufacturer has recently kicked off the production of 14nm Intel chips.
A report from South Korea reveals that Intel looked at several other companies that could have helped it resolve the chip crisis, including not only Samsung, but also TSMC.
Right now, Taiwan-based TSMC is the leading company in the chip manufacturing business, followed by Samsung and GlobalFoundries. Intel, however, was ready to work with TSMC anyway, but Samsung was eventually picked, possibly because of the collaboration between TSMC and Intel rival AMD.
Industry impact
Intel did not disclose the names of the companies that it works with to address the chip delays.
“In response to continued strong demand, we have invested record levels of Capex increasing our 14nm wafer capacity this year while also ramping 10nm production. In addition to expanding Intel’s own manufacturing capability, we are increasing our use of foundries to enable Intel’s differentiated manufacturing to produce more Intel CPU products,” Michelle Johnston Holthaus, Executive Vice President, General Manager, Sales, Marketing and Communications Group, said.
But at the same time, Intel’s struggle to align the demand with the production is also impacting other parts of the industry, including the migration from Windows 7 to Windows 10.
Dell has recently revealed that the pace at which upgrades are performed has slowed down because of the limited Intel chip inventory, with forecasts pointing to the migration to Windows 10 extending beyond the Windows 7 end-of-support date. According to Microsoft’s schedule, Windows 7 is due to be retired on January 14.