Baker says Taiwan Semi reached the node before Intel in 2018, creating a competitive shift.
“Taiwan Semi got to the node before Intel, which meant that Taiwan Semi, who supplies most semiconductor companies that you can think of Yeah.”
Baker quantifies Intel's manufacturing lead as 15-20% advantage that Taiwan Semi overtook in 2018.
“And in 2018, and it's important that the Taiwan Semi seven nanometer node is equivalent to the Intel 10 nanometer node.”
Baker explains Intel's historical advantage of reaching semiconductor nodes first gave them 15-20% embedded advantage.
“Intel for the last, I don't know, fifty years, sixty years always got to the next node in semiconductor manufacturing first.”
Baker explains TSMC caught Intel because semiconductor equipment suppliers wanted to avoid Intel's monopsony power.
“They wanted them to catch up. They don't like having a monopsony. The a teams were in Taiwan working. Intel made some mistakes and presto.”