> Luckily for them their 10nm was much more ambitious than any of the 7nm designs and they are facing problems that other fabs will not face until their 5nm and beyond processes.
I've always wondered about this. What's to keep the hard won experience and knowledge of how to do cobalt from escaping into the wile and being adopted at a much higher rate by their competitors?
It goes both ways I guess, and some experience and working at smaller scales can also come to Intel, but I would imagine the gains for a leg up are greater with the harder process.
Sure, there are IP laws in place, but just not having to waste months (or manpower in parallel research) on paths where you can get a hint (path B is a dead end, don't devote much to it) seems like a gain in itself.
I've always wondered about this. What's to keep the hard won experience and knowledge of how to do cobalt from escaping into the wile and being adopted at a much higher rate by their competitors?
It goes both ways I guess, and some experience and working at smaller scales can also come to Intel, but I would imagine the gains for a leg up are greater with the harder process.
Sure, there are IP laws in place, but just not having to waste months (or manpower in parallel research) on paths where you can get a hint (path B is a dead end, don't devote much to it) seems like a gain in itself.