Samsung reportedly gets CPU orders from Intel amid supply shortfall

Update – Intel has confirmed that they are not using 3rd party Foundries to create CPUs. Below is a comment from an Intel representative to WCCFTech. 

 

The letter from last week says we will increase our use of foundry so we can build more CPUs at Intel.
The news reports about our use of third party foundries for CPUs are inaccurate.

 

Last week, Intel confirmed that CPU shipments would be delayed due to the company’s inability to manufacture enough processors, stemming from the increasing die sizes of the company’s latest processors and increasing demand in the enterprise market. 

Intel has already offloaded some of their manufacturing to 3rd party foundries, moving chipset creation to the likes of TSMC and Samsung. Now, it looks like some of Intel’s processor manufacturing is moving to Samsung’s foundries, at least according to Pulse News in Korea.  

With AMD pushing higher core counts, Intel has been forced to do the same, increasing the size of its processors. This decreases the number of processors that Intel can manufacture per wafer, making Intel’s existing supply issues worse. This competition has also forced Intel to lower its prices for high-end processors, which again has increased demand for Intel’s larger chips, all of which places tighter strain on Intel’s manufacturing resources. 

Pulse News has stated that this is the first time that Intel has had to turn to a 3rd party foundry to create its mainstay CPUs. These Samsung manufactured Intel processors are likely to all be low-end models, likely for their Atom, Pentium or Celeron product families. This manufacturing shift would allow Intel to focus its resources on its high-performance and high-margin products.

Right now, it looks like Intel will be unable to address its supply issues anytime soon. Given this news, it seems like Intel’s manufacturing shortfalls are entering desperate levels.