Report claiming that Intel has 'pulled the plug' on 10nm development rejected by chip giant

Intel claims that 10nm parts will be out in volume by mid-2019

A report claiming that Intel had "pulled the plug" on the development of its 10 nanometre CPUs has been rejected outright by the chip giant.

Specialist website SemiAccurate had claimed that Intel has discontinued work on 10nm, indicating that the 10nm process node will never be viable for Intel.

SemiAccurate's Charlie Demerjian wrote that Intel has "pulled the plug on its struggling 10nm process", no doubt doubling down on 14nm until it can follow Samsung and TSMC to a viable 7nm node.

Media reports published today that Intel is ending work on the 10nm process are untrue

Demerjian wrote: "The knifing of 10nm shows that Intel is finally willing to do the right things for the right reasons even if it costs them some short-term pain, it is the first adult decision we have seen from the company in several years."

Earlier, Demerjian had speculated that Intel's 10nm Cannon Lake parts "aren't real and never will be viable, financially or technically speaking".

While Intel has been able to produce some low-end parts at 10nm this year, volume production isn't set to ramp-up in earnest until mid-2019, which will make it three years late when 10nm Cannon Lake parts start to appear in number.

SemiAccurate's story contradicted a number of other recent reports suggesting that Intel had finally cracked its 10nm process.

Intel's 10nm Cannon Lake parts "aren't real and never will be viable, financially or technically speaking"

At the beginning of the month, for example, BlueFin Research Partners had claimed that Intel is finally making "significant strides" with its 10nm efforts.

In a report from the Bloomberg newswire, BlueFin had suggested that parts would start appearing in volume during the first half of 2019. Production could be ramped up from April, the research group continued, six weeks ahead of Intel's much changed schedule.

However, Intel has been quick off the mark to reject SemiAccurate's story. In a statement to V3, an Intel spokesperson was adamant that the company will be producing 10nm parts next year.

"Media reports published today that Intel is ending work on the 10nm process are untrue," said the Intel spokesperson.

They continued: "We are making good progress on 10nm. Yields are improving consistent with the timeline we shared during our last earnings report."

In an update to its own response, SemiAccurate claimed that it stood by its report.

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