Since 2021, the RAMP-C program has been developing in the United States, providing for the creation of conditions for the rapid creation of prototypes of the latest chips used in the defense sector, with their subsequent production using the most modern technologies. Intel, as a native American company, tried to play a leading role in this program, and two more companies have recently been added to the list of its core clients.
Image Source: Intel
Initially, Boeing and Northrop Grumman applied to receive chips from Intel using 18A technology, but now Trusted Semiconductor Solutions and Reliable MicroSystems have joined them. Along the way, Intel said last week that it has moved to the stage of creating digital designs for products that defense customers will commission it to produce using Intel’s advanced 18A technology. Among other things, this technology provides power supply from the reverse side of the chip and the arrangement of transistors with a surrounding RibbonFET type gate, improving the ratio of performance and power consumption, as well as increasing the density of transistors on the chip. The EMIB substrate enables Intel customers to build complex multi-chip compute components.
It is worth adding that last year Intel received subsidies in the amount of $3 billion from the US authorities to develop the infrastructure necessary for the rapid development and production of chips for defense customers using advanced lithographic technologies. These funds were in addition to the financial support provided by the so-called “Chip Law.” It is clear that Intel, in light of its predicament, is trying to make the US authorities aware of its indispensability in the field of contract manufacturing of chips in the country using advanced lithography.