NVIDIA would have tested Intel’s 18A process, but has not yet reached an agreement

NVIDIA would have carried out initial tests with the Intel 18A process for manufacturing chips, but decided not to move forward at this time. The information is not official, but comes from Reuters, which claims to have spoken to two people close to the matter, who chose to remain anonymous.

As we know, Intel is currently focusing its 18A process on manufacturing the next generations of its processors, with the first arriving in the form of the Intel Core Ultra Series 3, Panther Lake, for notebooks. The company is interested in eventually gaining external customers with the technology, but NVIDIA appears to have not reached an agreement yet.

“NVIDIA recently tested whether or not it would manufacture its chips using Intel’s production process known as 18A, but stopped moving forward, two people close to the matter said,” says Reuters, in free translation. The newspaper adds that the company did not respond to requests for comment on the matter.

Process 18A is just the beginning

According to what has been released about the 18A process and some leaks, it is more likely that the first version of the technology will remain dedicated to Intel products, while the company targets new versions such as 18A-P and 18A-PT to attract external customers.

At the same time, Intel is also working on the next generation of its lithography, the 14A. Company representatives have already spoken about the potential they see in the technology, since it is not a complete renovation like 18A and will be able to build on what has already been done for this generation.

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As always, any chip manufacturer’s fight is for space in the market largely dominated by TSMC, which continues to be considered the best manufacturer of advanced processes in the world. It is NVIDIA’s main supplier and will possibly continue to be for at least another generation of semiconductors.