Apple’s M chips better watch out, Intel’s next-gen laptop silicon just got serious.
Intel has announced performance metrics for its upcoming 14A silicon process node in San Jose. The Intel Foundry’s aim is Apple silicon, and most particularly, Apple’s M4 chip. The company is seeing both performance and power efficiency improvements but has yet to launch a chip that competes on both metrics.
However, this may change soon. In the fall, Intel is expected to launch its first chips using the 18A process, and in 2027, the company is set to unleash its A14 process which helps it achieve increased power and efficiency.
Now, the 14A silicon process node’s performance metrics are looking quite promising, and may bring Intel closer to competing better with Apple’s first-party chips.
Basically, the Intel 14A is a silicon wafer process node operating at 1.4 nanometers for its smallest component. When you have smaller transistors on a wafer, this generally means you can make faster chips. Right now, the current computer hardware is generally constructed using 3nm to 5nm wafers.
And yep, a chip made with a 1.4nm wafer is significantly faster than one made with a 3nm process.
Well, what does this mean in numbers? According to Intel’s testing and projections, the 14A process will give 25-35% better power consumption than the upcoming 18A process (which uses a 1.
