WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.200 A while back, we did an episode focusing on why Intel was suddenly struggling in its 00:00:04.200 --> 00:00:07.960 fight against AMD when Team Blue had long been dominant. 00:00:07.960 --> 00:00:12.160 But as AMD continues to cut into Intel's market share, you can bet that Intel has 00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:16.840 a plan to strike back. So let's have a look at what we could expect in the near future. 00:00:16.840 --> 00:00:22.000 One major AMD innovation that has helped keep costs down is its use of chiplets, smaller 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:26.520 dies that can be put together in a modular fashion to form a whole processor. 00:00:26.520 --> 00:00:30.800 Intel continued to stick with more traditional monolithic designs for quite a while. 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:35.400 But remember that the electronics industry is full of copycats, and even a company as 00:00:35.400 --> 00:00:38.400 big as Intel is no different. 00:00:38.400 --> 00:00:42.320 Intel has already announced that it too will be focusing on using a more modular design 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:46.840 similar to chiplets moving forward, which should enable them to lower prices generally, 00:00:46.840 --> 00:00:52.440 but obviously Intel can't just say, see we're doing the same thing as AMD and expect people 00:00:52.440 --> 00:00:57.960 to go for it. I mean, it wasn't exactly a surprise when Burger King's Big Mac knockoff didn't shatter 00:00:57.960 --> 00:01:02.880 sales records. So Intel is trying to hang its hat on some of its own innovations. 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:06.920 You see, there's a trend in the semiconductor industry towards fabless chip design, that 00:01:06.920 --> 00:01:12.760 is companies like AMD and NVIDIA design processors, but then send them off to a third-party fab 00:01:12.760 --> 00:01:15.840 like TSMC to actually have the things made. 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:19.560 The idea here is that outsourcing the actual manufacturing is cheaper than running your 00:01:19.560 --> 00:01:25.280 own fab. It also reduces delays in manufacturing problems because outside fabs tend to be very good at 00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:28.840 manufacturing many different types of chips efficiently. 00:01:28.840 --> 00:01:33.760 And even though Intel is reportedly using TSMC for its upcoming desktop graphics chips, 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:39.600 at least for the time being, Team Blue has long operated its own fabs and shows no signs 00:01:39.600 --> 00:01:46.560 of changing course despite past rumors. Although Intel's had many well-documented issues trying to get its 10 nanometer process 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:50.920 off the ground, it's still banking on its own fabs and their new 10 nanometer superfin 00:01:50.920 --> 00:01:57.960 process to improve performance. Basically, it's a variation on FinFET, which was explained in this video, that allows for 00:01:57.960 --> 00:02:03.560 more electrical current and less resistance, which should ultimately make for faster chips. 00:02:03.560 --> 00:02:07.640 Intel claims that this is the biggest performance lead they've ever had that doesn't involve 00:02:07.640 --> 00:02:15.160 actually going to a smaller manufacturing process. In fact, they're so confident in their own fabs that they're actually expanding their 00:02:15.160 --> 00:02:20.760 capacity and opening what they call Intel Foundry Services, which will operate as a 00:02:20.760 --> 00:02:24.820 contract manufacturer for other companies similar to TSMC. 00:02:24.820 --> 00:02:29.080 Team Blue is already targeting electronics industry giants like Qualcomm and Apple to 00:02:29.080 --> 00:02:33.240 be potential future customers for Foundry Services, which would open up a whole new 00:02:33.240 --> 00:02:38.800 way to bring in that sweet paper without focusing only on going head to head with AMD. 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:44.360 But of course they still are going directly up against Team Red, not only with their 00:02:44.360 --> 00:02:48.080 chiplets, but with the elephant in the room we haven't discussed. 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:51.480 Their new ZHPG graphics platform. 00:02:51.480 --> 00:02:57.600 Intel's first significant foray into discrete graphics cards in, I think, literal decades. 00:02:57.600 --> 00:03:02.280 Its first product looks like it'll be a mid-tier card that could go up against an RX 6700 XT 00:03:02.280 --> 00:03:08.280 or NVIDIA's RTX 3060, so it could end up being yet another way Intel will try to compete 00:03:08.280 --> 00:03:13.120 on price. And with the current GPU shortage worldwide, there's a possibility that the super high 00:03:13.200 --> 00:03:18.080 demand for existing GPUs could push gamers to try out Intel's offering, provided they 00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:24.040 find a way to make enough supply available. And speaking of graphics, Intel has already publicly said laptop gaming is going to be 00:03:24.040 --> 00:03:28.800 a huge focus, with the goal being for lower power Z variants to deliver playable frame 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:36.440 rates and big name titles even on thin and light notebooks. Of course it remains to be seen how these moves will work out for Intel, but you can 00:03:36.440 --> 00:03:39.480 bet they are taking AMD's challenge lightly. 00:03:39.480 --> 00:03:43.800 You could say they're even rising to it. 00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:48.520 Thanks for watching, like, dislike, and check out some of our other videos, maybe comment 00:03:48.520 --> 00:03:51.320 with some video suggestions, and don't forget to subscribe and follow.