Arm cores and Intel's Angstrom-era process technology collaborate to provide powerful manufacturing capabilities to chip designers, including SoCs.

Intel Foundry Services (IFS) and Arm announced on the 13th a multi-generation collaboration plan to enable chip designers to design low-power computing system-on-chips (SoCs) for Intel's 18A process.

This collaboration is initially focused on mobile SoC designs, but could expand to include automotive, Internet of Things (IoT), data centers, aerospace, and government applications.

Arm customers designing next-generation mobile SoCs will benefit from IFS's robust manufacturing capabilities, with production capacity in the US and EU, as well as cutting-edge Intel 18A process technology, which delivers new and innovative transistor technologies for improved power and performance.

“As everything becomes more digitized, demand for compute performance is increasing, but until now, fabless customers have had limited options to design around cutting-edge mobile technologies,” said Pat Gelsinger, Intel CEO. “Intel’s collaboration with Arm expands the market opportunity for IFS and provides new options and access to all fabless companies that want to leverage the power of an open system foundry with best-in-class CPU IP and leading-edge process technology.”

“Arm’s secure, energy-efficient processors are at the heart of hundreds of billions of devices and the world’s digital experiences,” said Rene Haas, Arm CEO.As computing and efficiency demands become increasingly complex, the industry must innovate at several new levels. “Through our collaboration with Arm and Intel, IFS can become a valuable foundry partner to our customers as they deliver next-generation, world-changing products powered by Arm,” he said.

As part of its IDM 2.0 strategy, Intel is investing in advanced manufacturing capabilities worldwide, including significant expansions in the U.S. and EU, to meet the ongoing long-term demand for chips.

This collaboration will provide a more balanced global supply chain for foundry customers designing mobile SoCs with Arm-based CPU cores.

By leveraging Arm's cutting-edge compute portfolio and world-class IP on Intel's process technologies, Arm's partners will be able to take full advantage of Intel's open system foundry model, which extends beyond traditional wafer manufacturing to include packaging, software, and chiplets.

IFS and Arm will conduct Design Technology Co-Optimization (DTCO) to simultaneously optimize chip design and process technology to improve the power, performance, area, and cost (PPAC) of Arm cores targeting Intel's 18A process technology.

Intel 18A features two innovative technologies: PowerVia for optimal power delivery and the RibbonFET Gate All Around (GAA) transistor architecture for optimal performance and power.

IFS and Arm will develop mobile reference designs to demonstrate software and system knowledge to foundry customers.

As the industry evolves from DTCO to System Technology Co-Optimization (STCO), Arm and IFS plan to collaborate to optimize platforms from applications and software to packaging and silicon, leveraging Intel's proprietary open system foundry model.