Intel Xe “Ponte Vecchio” is not manufactured by TSMC at 6 nanometers

The news that Intel would relocate the production of the second generation Xe graphics card to the contract manufacturer TSMC hit the other day and was followed by both restructuring at Intel and a record for TSMC’s share price. At the same time, TSMC went out and announced that the company does not believe that Intel will be a long-term customer, which is why the circuit manufacturer does not plan to expand its capacity.

Now even more rumors are emerging regarding Intel’s graphics card investment and the production of second-generation Xe circuits in the “Ponte Vecchio” family. According to Wccftech, the rumors are certainly true that TSMC will manufacture the circuits, but that they will instead be manufactured with TSMC’s processes of 5 nanometers or Intel’s own 7 nanometers, not the previously rumored 6 nanometers.

According to sources at Wccftech, Ponte Vecchio is developed for Intel’s manufacturing process of 7 nanometers and therefore less suitable for lower transistor densities, which disqualifies TSMC’s process N6 of 6 nanometers. Instead, TSMC’s process N5 is much better suited here. TSMC will only be responsible for the production of the graphics circuit, while Intel itself will manufacture the cache and I / O parts for Ponte Vecchio.

Furthermore, it appears that the Ponte Vecchio will exist in several variants, but all will continue to land in TSMC’s 5-nanometer process, alternatively Intel’s upcoming node of 7 nanometers. The original order for 180,000 silicon wafers appears to remain, but according to Wccftech is not related to the graphics circuits in the Ponte Vecchio series.

Intel’s return to the graphics market with the Xe family is expected to take place before the end of the year, with news scheduled for August 14 or September 2. The second generation Xe, the Ponte Vecchio, is likely to become a reality during the final stages of 2021.

Read more about the upcoming graphics card series Intel Xe: