Intel spent decades getting its ass kicked by TSMC and now wants everyone to clap because it learned how to make chips again. The 18A-P node entered production. This is the part where we pretend manufacturing capability equals customer confidence.
Apple might buy these chips. Apple also might not. The word "possible" does more work in that headline than a single adjective should ever be forced to do. Journalists love "possible" because it transforms speculation into news. Intel loves it because analysts will juice the stock on vapor.
The 18A-P node represents Intel's most advanced process. Translation: they finally caught up to where Samsung was three years ago. TSMC remains so far ahead that this announcement is like watching someone celebrate parallel parking on the driving test. Technically you did it. Nobody's impressed.
Retail traders saw this headline and started Googling "what does 18A mean" while buying calls. The A stands for angstrom. An angstrom is one ten-billionth of a meter. That's roughly the size of the gap between Intel's current revenue and the revenue analysts promised you in 2021.
Apple designs its own chips and lets TSMC make them because TSMC doesn't f*ck up yields. Intel's pitch is apparently "we're almost as good now and also you remember us from the PowerPC days right?" Bold strategy. Nothing says cutting-edge partnership like reminding someone you divorced them in 2006.
The deal would be huge if it happens. It won't happen. Apple spent fifteen years building a supply chain that doesn't include Intel for a reason. That reason is Intel kept missing deadlines and blaming physics. Physics didn't move your 10nm node back four times. Management did.
But sure, buy the rumor. Sell when Apple announces another five-year extension with TSMC and acts like this headline never existed.
Photo by BoliviaInteligente on Unsplash
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