March 2, 2009: Today Intel and TSMC made a major announcement. The companies have issued a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on addressing technology platform, intellectual property (IP) infrastructure, and System-on-Chip (SoC) solutions. Essentially, Intel is licensing the Atom core to customers who will be able to customize a design and have it manufactured by TSMC.
Intel is doing this in order to expand the potential market for the Atom architecture, which is a derivative of the 80x86. The agreement with TSMC allows IP to be integrated around the Atom core. This is IP that Intel does not have access to for whatever reason. Both OEMs and other semiconductor companies may be customers, but no companies were identified at this time.
The primary market segments that are targeted are mobile internet devices (MIDs), smart-phones, netbooks, nettops, and AC-powered consumer electronics device. These are the same markets Intel is addressing with its current Atom products and roadmap. The company said the agreement with TSMC does not change any of its plans for its standard product line. The current Atom product line will continue to be manufactured in-house by Intel; this is not a second sourcing agreement. Intel will maintain control of which companies will be allowed to license Atom under this agreement.
