Intel’s 18A process makes faster chips, but TSMC’s 2nm process has higher transistor density

Before his hasty retirement under pressure from the board, former Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger was betting big on the 18A process to restore the company’s global leadership in lithography. Outside experts have found that Intel has much to be proud of in this regard, but rival TSMC has some advantages.

Image Source: Intel

Canadian TechInsights specialists have taken on the study of samples of microcircuits manufactured using formally comparable technologies by Intel and TSMC. Their research is most often featured in the press in the context of “exposing” the technological progress of the Chinese company Huawei Technologies, but the objects of the new study were samples of 2-nm products from TSMC and a prototype chip manufactured using Intel 18A technology.

According to TechInsights, TSMC’s N2 technology provides a transistor density of 313 million pieces per square millimeter of crystal area, while Intel’s 18A technology does not exceed 238 million pieces per square mm. Samsung, with its most advanced SF3 process technology, is inferior to both with a transistor density of 231 million pieces per square mm. However, Samsung plans to quickly master SF2 technology, so it is too early to write it off completely.

TechInsights can only talk about the speed of transistor switching by extrapolating previous data, but even this allows them to assume that Intel 18A will bypass TSMC’s N2 process technology in this regard, not to mention Samsung SF3. An additional advantage of Intel 18A is the use of PowerVia back-side power supply technology. It will not only increase the performance of Intel 18A-based chips, but also improve energy efficiency. Only previous experience forces TechInsights to talk about the potential superiority of TSMC N2 in terms of energy efficiency.

At the same time, products manufactured using Intel 18A risk appearing on store shelves in the second half of this year, while mass production of chips using N2 technology by TSMC will only be launched at the end of this year. Its deliveries will begin closer to mid-2026, if we assess the situation realistically. In other words, it is quite difficult to determine the leader in this technological confrontation in advance. We can only add that in the contract chip manufacturing market, TSMC has the trust of many customers, earned over decades of stable cooperation. In this sense, Intel has a much more difficult time acting outside its own orders.