Intel announces strategic partnership with UMC

Intel announced a strategic partnership with United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) to co-develop a 12nm process platform, targeting the burgeoning markets of mobile, communication infrastructure, and the internet. Both parties are committed to fulfilling customer demands and collaborating on design support, facilitating electronic design automation and intellectual property solutions for ecosystem partners on the 12nm process platform.

Intel’s Senior Vice President and General Manager of Intel Foundry Services (IFS), Stuart Pann, stated that Taiwan has always been a pivotal component of Asia’s and the global semiconductor and broader technology ecosystems. Intel is dedicated to collaborating with local innovators like UMC to better serve global customers. This strategic cooperation underscores Intel’s commitment to delivering technological and manufacturing innovation within the global semiconductor supply chain and represents a significant step toward achieving its ambition to become the world’s second-largest foundry by 2030.

Intel revealed that this long-term agreement combines Intel’s extensive manufacturing capabilities and FinFET transistor design expertise in the United States with UMC’s rich foundry experience in mature process nodes, offering customers process design kits (PDKs) for an expanded process portfolio. This new platform also provides global customers with more procurement choices, including a more diversified and resilient supply chain.

The 12nm process platform is expected to commence production by 2027, utilizing Intel’s Fab 12, Fab 22, and Fab 32 wafer factories located in Arizona, USA, leveraging existing equipment to minimize initial investments and optimize utilization.