Intel's 2023 CPU roadmap is going to be a busy one with Meteor Lake, the next-generation successor to Alder Lake, slated to hit our PCs along with an unnamed new client processor manufactured by TSMC. Yes, the same foundry that manufactures all of AMD's CPUs and graphics cards is about to produce "additional leader CPU products" for Intel.

Intel is currently setting up its own contract foundry business to compete with TSMC and make up for the lack of chip supply, but that does not mean it is cutting ties with other foundries. By no means is it.

During the Intel Unleashed livestream, new CEO Pat Gelsinger announced that the company will "leverage the capabilities of third-party foundries across our portfolio to provide the best products in every category in which we participate. The company announced that it will expand "to This means getting more Intel goods baked by TSMC, Gelsinger explained, but it also means additional collaborations with Global Foundries, UMC, and Samsung. [But TSMC is the only foundry that Intel has announced actual products from. Right now we expect the Intel Xe HPG graphics card to be forged in the flames of TSMC's 7nm process, but I don't know how many people were expecting an Intel client CPU to come out of the Taiwanese semiconductor business.

After reiterating that Intel aims to offer Meteor Lake in 2023, a 3D stacked processor that combines graphics and AI tiles with 7nm compute tiles, and possibly other 10nm CPU tiles. [The strength of the new IDM 2.0 model means that the breadth of the ecosystem can be strategically leveraged. In our 2023 roadmap, we plan to leverage our relationship with TSMC to offer additional leadership CPU products for our customers and our data center customers." This is the combined power of our new IDM 2.0 model, our modular approach to design, and Intel's industry-leading packaging technology." [2023 is going to be a big year for Intel, with the debut of its own Meteor Lake chip family, along with another high-end CPU product that will be manufactured at an external node, a completely different fab.

It is also possible that Intel is looking to take advantage of TSMC's small-scale manufacturing process to produce low-power, high-performance notebook chips. This is especially true since it is still unlikely that TSMC-made CPUs will make it into desktop machines, especially now that Intel is adding the Lake chip family.

What is certain is that this is a new start for Intel, a return to being the world's top chipmaker for a long time, while at the same time trying to do things that the old Intel did not do. Opening up their facilities to the highest bidder and sharing IP with customers is certainly new, as is their increased collaboration with outside fabs, extending to their leader client CPUs.

But the reworking of the old Tik-Tok model and the creation of Intel On, a modern Intel Developer Forum, is not just nostalgia, but a solid foundation to build on indeed.

"You get the picture: Intel is back," says Gelsinger, summing up last night's event. The old Intel now looks to the future as the new Intel."

And while that future looks bright, I believe there are still a few tough years ahead before we reach the inflection point that may represent the year 2023.