Intelligence will be at the head of a program entirely dedicated to the production of advanced chips from the US Department of Defense through Intel Foundry Services, the division dedicated to production for third parties strongly desired in recent months by CEO Pat Gelsinger.
The chip giant has been commissioned, through the S2MARTS OTA consortium, to provide commercial production services as part of the first phase of the Rapid Assured Microelectronics Prototypes – Commercial (RAMP-C) program. The RAMP-C program was created to “facilitate using the ecosystem of commercial semiconductor manufacturing plants in the United States “to secure the technology needed for critical defense systems.”
“One of the most profound lessons of the past year is the strategic importance of semiconductors and the value for the United States of having one. strong domestic semiconductor industry. Intel is the only American company that designs and manufactures logic semiconductors with the most advanced processes, ”he said. commented CEO Gelsinger. “When we introduced Intel Foundry Services earlier this year, we were thrilled to have the opportunity to make our capabilities available to a wider range of partners, including the US government, and it’s great to see the potential realized through programs like RAMP-C“.
Intel Foundry Services will work with various industry entities including IBM, Cadence and Synopsys to meet the needs of the US government, “develop and manufacture test chips on Intel 18A, Intel’s most advanced process technology“expected at the start of 2025 after the 20A expected in 2024 (A means Angstrom).
To further its goal of becoming a third-party chipmaker, Intel announced an investment of around $ 20 billion in the United States to build two manufacturing plants in Arizona. It is therefore natural that Intel was selected by the US Department of Defense for the skills, scale and technologies available.
The aim is clearly to advance and protect technologies in the military field, concentrating production capacity within national borders against semiconductor production until now 80% concentrated on Asian territory, with all the attendant problems of confidentiality and technological competition.