Intel

Intel has argued that, as a US company, it should get higher CHIPS Act subsidies than US chip plants owned by foreign companies like Apple chipmaker TSMC – even if its own plants sit empty.

TSMC, which is in line to receive subsidies for its Arizona plant, has hit back at the argument, stating that allocating cash by company HQ location would not be an efficient use of the money…

As shown by various reports in recent months, the PC market is slowing down in 2022 compared to previous years. Besides the PC vendors themselves, one of the companies most affected by this decline is Intel, which is now reportedly cutting thousands of jobs to reduce losses in its revenue.

While we knew that around $50B was being made available to promote US chip fabrication, it’s only today that we’re learning the actual CHIPS Act details. The bill itself did not specify how the money would be split.

Specifically, we now know that a little over half the total will be made available to help produce advanced chips in the US, while the rest of the money is being divided between two further initiatives …

Intel last week provided an update on its 14th-generation Meteor Lake processors due to launch next year, but it seems that there may have been a crucial change to the company’s plans.

Intel has said as recently as last week that it would fabricate the chips itself, using a 7nm process, but a supply-chain report today claims that the company will instead outsource the work to TSMC, so it can benefit from the same 5nm process used for Apple’s M1 chips …

One of the catch-22s of the global component shortage is that chips for chipmaking machines are one of the items in short supply, say execs from Intel and Apple chipmaker TSMC.

Buying new chipmaking machines was never a speedy process, given their complexity and delicacy, but lead times before the pandemic were measured in months. Now, say chipmakers, that time can be as long as 2-3 years …

The global chip shortage doesn’t appear likely to end any time soon. The manufacturer of crucial chipmaking machines has warned that its kit will be in short supply for another two years.

That’s particularly bad news for Intel as it seeks to play catch-up with the capabilities of Apple’s M1 chips …

Apple on Tuesday introduced a brand new Mac desktop called Mac Studio, which comes as an alternative between the Mac mini and the Mac Pro aimed at professional users. However, as the company approaches its two-year deadline to complete the transition to Apple Silicon, it seems that the Intel Mac mini will be around for a bit longer.

It’s no secret that Intel has been desperately working to beat Apple Silicon chips since the transition to ARM architecture in Macs. While the company has already introduced powerful new chips, they are nowhere near as efficient as Apple’s. Now a leaked roadmap has revealed a new Intel chip designed to beat M1 in every aspect.

Intel claimed earlier this month that its new Alder Lake Core i9 benchmarks faster than Apple’s M1 Max. As with all manufacturer claims (including those made by Apple), it doesn’t mean much until independently tested.

These tests have now been done using a chunky MSI GE76 Raider laptop, and do show that Intel’s claim is technically true – but there are some pretty major caveats …

While Intel on Tuesday announced a new way to integrate iPhone with Windows PCs, the company also unveiled the 12th generation of its mobile processors focused on laptops and smaller computers. According to Intel, the new Core i9 processor is faster than the Apple M1 Max – but that doesn’t mean much.

Intel on Tuesday announced the next generation of its premium Evo brand for company-certified computers. In addition to adding support for foldable devices and the WiFi 6E standard, the new Evo PCs will also offer iPhone and Apple Watch integration with iMessage support for the first time.

We reported yesterday on a Mac application memory error that I first saw with the Mail app on my new M1 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro. Searching Twitter revealed other apps were also exhibiting the same behavior, which appeared to be mostly Apple’s own apps.

However, it’s now clear from the growing number of reports that a very wide range of apps are affected, and that it happens on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs …

Intel’s Apple Silicon take has so far mostly consisted of mocking Macs and describing all the ways in which the company thinks PCs are better. But the chipmaker’s CEO now seems to be rethinking this stance, describing Apple Silicon Macs as “pretty good,” and acknowledging that Apple Silicon is ahead of Intel’s own chip designs.

However, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger seemingly thinks he can still win back Apple’s business – one way or another …

As Apple continues the incredibly successful transition to Apple Silicon chips in the Mac, Intel continues to downplay the threat. The chipmaker has posted a new video on YouTube in which it claims to have brought Apple fans “together to help them see the power of PC.”

Future Macs will benefit from Thunderbolt 5 bandwidth of 80Gbps, according to a photo accidentally tweeted by an Intel exec.

This isn’t a complete surprise – Intel’s director of I/O said back in March that the company was expecting to roughly double the 40Gbps speed of Thunderbolt 4 – but this has seemingly now been confirmed …

TSMC 2nm production is likely to begin sometime in 2023, after the company got the green light for its most advanced chipmaking process yet.

The news comes just one day after Intel said it believed it could catch, and overtake, TSMC’s chipmaking capabilities within four years…

Qualcomm said earlier this month that it thinks it can beat Apple Silicon, and now Intel has made the same claim – thanks to a combination of new technology and rebranding.

Intel said that it expects to take the lead by 2025 …

The one-sided Intel versus Apple battle has seen the chipmaker raging ever since Apple announced the switch from Intel Macs to Apple Silicon ones. Intel’s latest attack on Macs, however, is something of an own goal.

Attempting to show the superiority of Windows PCs over Macs, the chipmaker makes a comparison with an Intel-powered Mac …