eenewseurope.com, Mar. 28, 2025 –
Intel is shifting high volume production of 3nm chips to Europe at its Fab34 in Ireland later this year.
Intel 3 is the company’s second EUV lithography node with an 18% performance-per-watt improvement over Intel 4. The process is offered to foundry customers and was in high-volume manufacturing in Oregon during 2024, with high-volume manufacturing shifted to Leixlip in Ireland for 2025, it said in its annual report. This is the first confirmation of 3nm production after ramping up the first generation EUV process.
The Xeon 6 Scalable server processor offerings are built on this technology.
One of the issues with the semiconductor supply chain has been the lack of leading edge process technology in Europe. The availability of the Intel 3 process as part of Intel Foundry Services could be a key capability for the struggling company.
The company has been looking at investors to help fund the expansion, and last year sold the older half of the fab to equity fund Apollo.
Intel 4, 3 and 18A are being offered to foundry customers, as well as the established 7nm and 16nm processes. The company is also working with UMC on a 12nm foundry process.
“We expect to commence high-volume manufacturing of Panther Lake, our new client family of products and our first processors on Intel 18A in 2025,” it said. This will be built in Arizona.
“Intel 14A, our third advanced process technology offering to external customers, is in active development with performance-per-watt and density scaling improvements over Intel 18A,” it said, and this is expected in 2026.
However the fab planned for Madgeburg, Germany, is still on hold, as is the assembly plant planned for Poland.