Intel has begun risk production of its 18A-P process node, an optimized version of the 18A technology that already entered high-volume manufacturing earlier this year. The move marks another step in Intel’s aggressive “five nodes in four years” strategy to reclaim its position at the cutting edge of chipmaking.
Intel’s 18A-P delivers over 9% higher performance at the same power levels, or alternatively, 18% lower power consumption at equivalent performance compared to the base 18A node.
What 18A-P actually brings to the table
The process introduces new RibbonFET transistor technology and enhanced logic VT pairs, offering designers more flexibility in balancing speed against power consumption.
The 18A-P delivers up to a 50% increase in thermal conductivity and a 20-40% reduction in thermal resistivity. Via resistance drops by 10-30%. Front-end frequency at iso leakage improves by roughly 12%.
