Faraday Announces Intel 18A Based 64-Core ARM Neoverse Processor

Faraday Technology has announced a partnership with Intel in developing the first 64-core CPUs using the ARM Neoverse design. This, in turn, is huge news for IFS, since these new CPUs will be fabricated using the Intel 18A (1.8nm equivalent) fabrication process, adding another customer to Intel’s list.

Intel and Faraday Join Hands to Develop Intel 18A Based ARM SoCs

These offerings from Faraday aim to accelerate data centers, HPC-related ASICs and custom SoCs. Moreover, expect to see some IPs from the Arm Total Design ecosystem with these processors. Faraday will make these SoCs to suit customer’s needs, adding a hint of modularity and scalability.

While not much else was said, Faraday has expressed confidence in Intel’s upcoming bleeding edge node. Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel recently asserted that Intel 18A is a bit faster than TSMC’s N2, and arrives a year earlier. For context, Intel 18A is expected to enter mass production by H2 2024.

“As a design service partner in Arm Total Design, Faraday strategically targets the most advanced technology nodes to fulfill the evolving needs of future applications,” said Steve Wang, CEO of Faraday. “We are excited to announce the development of our new Arm Neoverse-based SoC platform, leveraging Intel 18A technology. This solution will benefit our ASIC and DIS (Design Implementation Service) customers, enabling them to expedite the time-to-market for cutting-edge data center and HPC applications.”

In addition to Faraday, Intel also secured contracts from the US Ministry of Defence for the RAMP-C program. Faraday’s new ARM Neoverse processors using Intel 18A are expected to be ready by H1 2025.

Intel 20A brings a lot to the table including RibbonFET (GAA) and PowerVia. Intel 18A builds on this by adding a new layer of improvements, with a 10% efficiency uplift. This process node has a few major goals, one of which is to attract as many customers to IFS as possible.

This year’s Sierra Forest and Granite Rapids will be based on Intel 3, basically Intel 4 with HD Libraries and improved efficiency. Where we will see Intel’s new wizardry in action will be with Arrow Lake, based on Intel 20A. If we visit the rumor mill, Panther Lake is a potential Intel 18A consumer product planned for late 2025 – early 2026.

Source: Faraday, Tom’s Hardware