在斯洛伐克的Bratislava，最近盛傳英特爾(Intel)的代工業(yè)務(wù)可能會(huì)擴(kuò)展到為思科(Cisco)制造芯片的消息。重點(diǎn)在于，這項(xiàng)交易可能高達(dá)10億美元。 我們?cè)谏现苡蒄uture Horizons公司于Bratislava舉辦的國(guó)際電子論壇上聽到這個(gè)消息。該消息是一位演講者提及，但稱這“不過是個(gè)謠言”，不過，據(jù)報(bào)導(dǎo)，投資銀行Piper Jaffray的分析師也在一份研究報(bào)告中對(duì)客戶表示，思科與英特爾可能已簽署價(jià)值10億美元的代工協(xié)議。 英特爾晶圓代工業(yè)務(wù)的已知客戶包括 FPGA 公司 Achronix 和 Tabula ，以及網(wǎng)絡(luò)處理器供貨商 Netronome 。 目前思科大多數(shù)硅芯片都采用40nm制程，少數(shù)采用28nm。而英特爾則以22nm FinFET技術(shù)提供代工服務(wù)。 因此，對(duì)思科這家擁有約750名芯片設(shè)計(jì)師的企業(yè)來說，似乎正是朝下一代制程節(jié)點(diǎn)轉(zhuǎn)移的時(shí)間?？雌饋?，英特爾的高性能硅芯片對(duì)網(wǎng)絡(luò)設(shè)備和芯片公司似乎別具意義，因?yàn)檫@些公司將能把自有的知識(shí)產(chǎn)權(quán)及IP核心導(dǎo)入設(shè)計(jì)過程中。 在國(guó)際電子論壇上提到該協(xié)議的正是英特爾客戶Achronix公司主席暨創(chuàng)辦人John Lofton Holt。 在遙遠(yuǎn)的過去(2004年)，思科曾用IBM作為其芯片代工廠商。然而，金額達(dá)10億美元的協(xié)議相當(dāng)驚人，即使該協(xié)議的時(shí)間可能長(zhǎng)達(dá)許多年，但對(duì)其他芯片公司而言，這也是相當(dāng)難得的訂單。 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 編譯： Joy Teng 參考英文原文：London Calling: Is Cisco Intel's $1 billion foundry deal?，by Peter Clarke

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{pagination} London Calling: Is Cisco Intel's $1 billion foundry deal? Peter Clarke The word on the street in Bratislava, Slovakia, is that Intel's foundry operation has started or will start to make chips for Cisco. What is more the deal could be worth as much as $1 billion. That's what we heard at the International Electronics Forum held in Bratislava last week and organized by market analysis firm Future Horizons. It did come couched as a "just a rumor" from one of the speakers, but in addition analysts at investment bank Piper Jaffray have reportedly told clients in a note that Cisco could cut a foundry partnership deal with Intel worth $1 billion. Known users of Intel foundry services include FPGA companies Achronix and Tabula and network processor company Netronome. Most of Cisco's silicon right now is at the 40-nm level with a number of 28-nm chip designs in the pipeline. But Intel is known to have been offering its 22-nm FinFET process as a foundry option for some time. So it would be the right time for Cisco, which employs about 750 chip designers, to be working on IC designs intended for implementation at the next node. And it would seem that the step up to high-performance Intel silicon could make sense for a networking equipment and chip company that is likely to bring all its own intellectual property and IP cores to the design process. And who was it that mentioned the possibility of a billion-dollar Intel foundry deal to the assembled executives at the IEF? It was non-other than John Lofton Holt, chairman and founder of Intel foundry user Achronix. In the dim and distant past (2004) Cisco used IBM as a foundry supplier of its chips. But a billion dollars does make you stop and think. Even though it may be spread over several years a billion dollars is a significant amount of other foundries' lunch that Intel would be eating.