Intel Foundry Services secured contract to manufacture Arm-based chips for AI applications.

Intel and Arm announced a partnership on Wednesday in which Intel's foundry business will manufacture mobile-focused Arm processors for third-party clients. Intel's Foundry Services, which aims to recruit clients like Apple and Nvidia that have historically relied on chip manufacturing from Taiwan's TSMC and Samsung, struck a "multigeneration agreement" to help customers build Arm chips on Intel's upcoming 18A manufacturing node.

The 18A node is scheduled to start mass production in late 2024, though it remains unclear when it will be deployed for the foundry business. The collaboration will initially focus on mobile system-on-chip (SoC) designs, but allows for potential expansion into automotive, Internet of Things (IoT), data center, aerospace, and government applications. Intel and Arm stated that the 18A process promises to deliver "breakthrough transistor technologies for improved power and performance," and the companies plan to work together to optimize Arm designs for Intel's manufacturing technologies.

The deal provides strategic advantages for both parties. For Intel, the partnership offers a path to attract customers to its foundry business as the company prepares to build new foundries in both the US and Europe. For Arm's clients across the technology industry, the agreement creates an additional manufacturing source outside TSMC and Samsung—a significant development following the historic chip shortage of 2021. Intel's 18A technology is positioned to compete against TSMC's upcoming 2-nanometer manufacturing process, rumored to arrive in 2025.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger emphasized the opportunity in his statement: "There is growing demand for computing power driven by the digitization of everything, but until now fabless customers have had limited options for designing around the most advanced mobile technology."