Intel will make the majority of its next-gen Nova Lake-S CPUs in-house as 18A process yields improve

Q: Will Intel actually produce the majority of Nova Lake-S CPUs on its 18A process rather than TSMC's N2?

According to the report, Intel is planning to bring the majority of Nova Lake-S production in-house on its 18A node because 18A yields have reportedly improved from 65% to 85% and TSMC has been offering less favorable pricing and support. The primary article also notes there may not be time to switch the very first wave of Nova Lake-S to 18A. Related article "TSMC receives order for 2nm from Intel, should be for the compute tiles on Nova Lake CPU" reports Intel placed 2nm orders at TSMC for the compute tiles, indicating some split production.

Q: Could Intel's foundry deals with NVIDIA, AMD, Microsoft, and OpenAI affect the timeline or scale of Nova Lake-S production on 18A?

Yes. The article says improving 18A yields (65% to 85%) plus Intel signing foundry deals with NVIDIA, AMD, Microsoft, OpenAI, and others make it increasingly likely Intel can move more Nova Lake-S production in-house, which would increase the scale of 18A-made Nova Lake-S chips. It also notes that even with the yield improvements and deals, there may not be enough time to switch the first wave of Nova Lake-S to 18A, so the timeline for initial units could remain unchanged while later production ramps benefit from the change.

Intel is reportedly shifting production away from TSMC for its upcoming Nova Lake-S generation as yields for its 18A node dramatically improve.

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Kosta Andreadis

Senior Editor

Published Jul 15, 2026 3:28 AM CDT

1 minute & 30 seconds read time

TL;DR: Intel plans to manufacture most Nova Lake-S CPUs internally after 18A node yields rose from about 65% to 85%, reducing waste and enabling higher volume. Intel Foundry, already producing Panther Lake chips across two North American sites, may replace TSMC N2 for Nova Lake amid less favorable TSMC pricing and limited optimization support.

Voice: Kosta AndreadisSpeed

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Intel's next generation of Nova Lake-S-powered desktop CPUs is reportedly on track for release later this year or early 2027, and so far we've heard rumors of cache-filled X3D-style mid-range offerings for PC games as well as flagship models with a whopping 52 cores.

Intel will make the majority of its next-gen Nova Lake-S CPUs in-house as 18A process yields improve 1

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As a cutting-edge consumer processor architecture, Nova Lake was previously believed to use TSMC's 2nm (N2) process for its main compute tile, with only around 30% of the CPU tiles and chip technology manufactured internally via Intel Foundry on the company's 18A node. And we say previously, because a new report indicates that Intel is now planning to bring the majority of Nova Lake production in-house.

And the reasoning is sound; apparently Intel's 18A node yields have dramatically improved in recent months, going from 65% to 85%. The higher the yield, the fewer dies or chips go to waste, leading to a more efficient chip product and a notably higher quantity. Intel's 18A node production, which is being carried out across two sites in North America, is currently being leveraged for its 'Panther Lake' lineup of mobile processors, so the assumption is that with greater yields it can also take on more products like Nova Lake.

Read more: TSMC 2nm process expected to be a game-changer for both AMD and Intel
Read more: TSMC receives order for 2nm from Intel, should be for the compute tiles on Nova Lake CPU
Read more: Intel mulls changes to chip-making biz: potential write-off of Intel 18A would cost billions

In addition to the improved yields, the report also notes that the shift to Intel Foundry production could also be on the cards for Nova Lake because TSMC has been giving Intel "less favorable pricing" for its 2nm process (N2) compared to other customers, alongside limited support when it comes to optimizing the chips.

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Question #1

Will Intel actually produce the majority of Nova Lake-S CPUs on its 18A process rather than TSMC's N2?

Question #2

Could Intel's foundry deals with NVIDIA, AMD, Microsoft, and OpenAI affect the timeline or scale of Nova Lake-S production on 18A?

Have a question not listed here? Ask below and TweakBot will answer it.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Even if there's not enough time to make the 18A switch for the first wave of Nova Lake-S CPUs, with 18A yields increasing and Intel signing deals with companies like NVIDIA, AMD, Microsoft, OpenAI, and others to leverage its foundries for chip production, it's increasingly looking like TSMC's cutting-edge dominance is slowly diminishing.