Richard Cownie (tich.delete@this.pobox.com) on February 4, 2013 5:01 pm wrote:
>
> The process disadvantage only comes into play if Intel is willing to use bleeding-edge
> fab capacity for sub-$20 ASP smartphone chips instead of over-$60 laptop chips,
> which seems very questionable (even given the likely ratios of die area, the revenue
> per mm2 would seem unlikely to favor the smartphone chips).
>
> It seems that part of the reason why they sold XScale in 2006 was that it couldn't
> compete effectively against TI and others on old fabs, and they weren't willing to use the
> new fabs for a low-margin product. Possibly that changes if the decline of x86
> continues, we'll see.

Couldn't it happen that - with the next process shrink - Intel does not need all fabs re-equipped with the bleeding edge technology? If running the new process on a selection of fabs satisfies the needs of the x86 business, Intel could use the other fabs for other business. Question would then be how good the 'older' technology fares against the competition