Qualcomm will not be using Intel’s chips for the foreseeable future, citing that the blue chipmaker doesn’t have the sufficient chip technology to meet its advanced chips needs. “Intel is not an option today,” Christiano Amon, CEO of Qualcomm, said. “We would like Intel to be an option.”
“If Intel is able to advance its manufacturing techniques to produce more efficient chips, then Qualcomm would consider becoming a customer,” Amon said Friday in an interview with Bloomberg. Until such a time, Qualcomm will be sticking with chips provided from TSMC and Samsung, the former for its N4 process.
The decision on whose chips to use isn’t surprising. Since the departure of its former CEO, Pat Gelsinger, and the appointment of its current one, Lip-Bu Tan, Intel has visibly been going through a slump, as it continues to navigate through a treacherous and uncertain future. The company is still depending on its own ability to produce future process nodes, such as 18A and 14A.
However, Intel disclosed back in July that it may pause or abandon development of the 14A process, should it fail to secure enough third party business or meet key milestones. For that matter, its 18A process is reportedly suffering yield issues, although just how severe the issue is has not been disclosed. Perhaps pouring salt into an already open wound, its next generation Nova Lake desktop processor lineup is expected to be a hybrid of both its own 18A and TSMC’s N2 process.
Qualcomm, on the other hand, has been aggressively branching out its main business of producing smartphone processors into other avenues, such as the automotive industry. It’s a smart move, undoubtedly, as the company hedges its bets on other prospects, instead of going all in on a single source of income.
