Business
Intel Foundry Details Process Milestones and Future Innovation at VLSI Symposium
Intel Foundry Details Process Milestones and Future Innovation at VLSI
About this update from Intel Corporation
At the 2026 VLSI Symposium, Intel Foundry provided an update on its process roadmap and long-term innovation investments. It shared that Intel 18A-P, the first performance enhancement in the Intel 18A family, has entered risk production, meeting the timeline first shared with customers and partners last year.“Our updates and presentations at VLSI signal to Intel Foundry customers and partners that we are fully committed to leading edge process innovation over the long term,” said Naga Chandrasekaran, executive vice president and general manager of Intel Foundry. “This is a journey, and while we have more work ahead, we appreciate the opportunity to share the progress we are making with Intel 18A-P and our longer-range R&D.”Intel 18A-P updates at VLSIIntel Foundry enables Intel 18A-P performance, power and design benefits through a mix of transistor, interconnect, and design-technology co-optimizations. At VLSI, engineers from Intel Foundry detailed the following advancements:Intel 18A-P delivers 9% higher performance at iso-power or 18% lower power at iso-performance compared to Intel 18A, alongside enhanced thermal characteristics and expanded design flexibility.Unveiled Power Boost, Intel 18A-P’s new dual contact, low resistance transistor option enabling increased drive current and greater frequency at matched capacitance.20-40% improved thermal resistance through both materials and design innovations.10-30% improved via resistance (referring to the vertical connections between the layers of a chip) using geometric and materials optimizations.Mobility enhancement through PMOS via strain engineering, letting current move through the transistor more efficiently.New low power and high-performance transistor options.New fifth logic Vt pair between ULVT and LVT (an additional fifth Vt option for designers to balance speed and power).Intel 18A-P is fully design rule compatible with Intel 18A, enabling straightforward reuse of existing IP and design flows.Similar to Intel 18A, Intel 18A-P offers two cell heights (180nm and 160nm), a contacted poly pitch of 50nm.Additional updates at VLSIIntel Foundry brought gate-all-around (GAA) transistors and backside power delivery (BSPD) to market last year with Intel 18A. This week, engineering teams discussed how these technologies provide the foundation for improved performance, energy efficiency and scaling for f...