Intel will shift production of consumer CPUs to TSMC starting later this year. Market intelligence firm TrendForce has said so.

According to TrendForce's sources, Intel will first outsource its Core i3 CPUs to TSMC later this year, using TSMC's 5nm process, which Apple uses for its latest iPhone and MacBook chips. Then next year, Intel will move its higher-performance models to TSMC's next 3nm node.

The possibility that Intel will begin outsourcing CPU production has been covered previously due to ongoing issues with the new 10nm production node and its successor, the 7nm node. However, this is the first time we have heard about specific processor plans and detailed timelines.

If the reports are true, the immediate question is what exactly are TSMC's chips moving to 5nm later this year? Intel has always said that its radical new Alder Lake hybrid CPUs will be manufactured in-house in 10nm technology. That was confirmed on Monday with a demonstration of Alder Lake, which Intel calls an "enhanced super-fin 10nm process."

With Alder Lake scheduled for release later this year, the question is whether Intel will split Alder Lake between TSMC and its own factories, or whether the i3 processor will be based on the previous architecture. [Perhaps a quad-core Cove-based CPU with an internal structure similar to Tiger Lake or Rocket Lake will be sent to TSMC. And in late 2022, Intel may rework Meteor Lake, the successor to Alder Lake, for TSMC's 3nm.

In any case, these are all TBC stories. But they are consistent with what we know about Intel's current predicament and the growing indications that it will have to outsource at least some CPU production in order to remain competitive with the increasingly on the up and up AMD.