"According to news on December 4, according to industry sources, Intel executives are preparing to visit chip foundry giant TSMC in order to finalize production plans for 3-nanometer chips and avoid competing with Apple for production capacity.

Intel and TSMC will collaborate on a GPU and three data center CPU projects. The company hopes to use TSMC’s 3-nanometer process technology in future Meteor Lake processors. Intel hopes to keep up with Apple in the chip manufacturing process through cooperation with TSMC.

Intel has always insisted on manufacturing its own CPU, but in recent years has lagged behind TSMC in this regard. Its CPU not only has high power consumption, but also has lower efficiency. This has prompted Apple to commit to phasing out Intel chips used in Macs and plans to replace them with self-developed Apple Silicon.

TSMC is Apple’s largest chip supplier, and it is said that the company has begun trial production of 3-nanometer M3 chips for Apple. These chips may eventually be used in Mac computers, and may be available as early as early 2023. At present, the chips in the latest iPhone, Mac and iPad are all produced based on TSMC's 5nm process technology.

The latest news echoes previous rumors that Intel is considering outsourcing production to TSMC, and said that the two sides will hold talks in the next few weeks. It is reported that: ""Intel executives will visit Taiwan Province in mid-December and meet with TSMC representatives to discuss the 3nm chip production capacity that the company hopes to obtain.""

Earlier reports stated that Intel is considering outsourcing chip production, but still hopes to improve its manufacturing capabilities. It is speculated that Intel’s move is to help TSMC arrange production plans in advance so that the latter will not be in a hurry to meet Intel processor orders while producing chips for the iPhone.

TSMC’s process technology is often limited by factory capacity in the early stages of its life cycle, which has prompted it to cooperate with only a few customers. Apple and TSMC have a ten-year cooperative relationship. The front-end Semiconductor Engineers also revealed that in terms of chip design and research, Apple is always given priority.

Obviously, Intel does not want to be a ""third party"" in the partnership between Apple and TSMC. The company hopes to ensure that its demand for 3nm capacity will not be affected by Apple and try to ""avoid competing with Apple for capacity.""

It is worth noting that Intel plans to launch its own 2nm process technology in 2024, called 20A."