Product and corp comms @ Intel | Ex- Amazon, AWS, nvidia, Cisco, SUN, and WiReD | Backyard and front porch enthusiast
Joined May 2008
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Jesse Freund retweeted
.@Intel announced plans to acquire Classiq this week, in a move to more fully enable commercialization of its quantum computing technology after more than a decade of research and development as an Intel Labs initiative. The acquisition adds a critical software layer to Intel's Quantum portfolio, with the goal of bringing its technology to a broader commercial market.
I had a chance to sit down with Intel and Classiq executives to learn more about the technology combination, Intel's roadmap, and where the companies see opportunities ahead. Sharing my latest HotTech Takeaways from that discussion here.
And by the way, the hype right now might be on GPUs and other AI accelerators, but don't sleep on quantum computing's huge potential. $INTC
linkedin.com/pulse/intels-cl…
Jesse Freund retweeted
Great EMIB conversation between @austinsemis and Ravi Mahajan. Favorite quote:
"This was almost science fiction because the bridge I was talking about is roughly half the thickness of an A4 sheet of paper. So imagine being able to manipulate tiny strips of silicon like that."
🎙️ NEW EPISODE: How Intel Took EMIB From Science Fiction to High Volume: Intel Foundry's Ravi Mahajan
Ravi Mahajan, a distinguished engineer at Intel Foundry, joins Austin to detail EMIB's 20-year journey from a "science fiction" concept to a high-volume manufacturing reality.
- Organic package wire escape density at the die edge improved only about 10% per generation, so EMIB puts fine-pitch silicon in small patches at the die edges and leaves power to the substrate's thick metal
- Production required five technologies to converge, including a custom 4-layer silicon process and dies half the thickness of an A4 sheet of paper
- HBM was the first driver. Solve the highest-performance memory interconnect and the technology can "waterfall down" to everything else
- The advantage over CoWoS is manufacturing scale. Small bridges replace a full-sized silicon interposer and its high cost and poor wafer utilization on large, multi-reticle AI packages
- EMIB-T was in the original patent, using TSVs to fix the "torturous" power path around the bridge
- EMIB is an Intel Foundry exclusive, and the roadmap includes top-side optics
This episode is presented by @CrusoeAI. Crusoe's Serverless Fine-Tuning trains an open model like Llama, DeepSeek, or GLM on your own data, and you pay per million tokens, not per GPU hour. About $2 buys roughly 5M training tokens on smaller models. Get $5 in credit to start: semidoped.com/crusoe-x
Chapters:
0:00 Intro: Ravi Mahajan
1:44 Pathfinding & The HIR Roadmap
7:58 The Two Drivers of EMIB
15:15 Decoupling I/O and Power
16:27 The 'Science Fiction' of EMIB
20:36 HBM as the Killer App
25:06 EMIB vs. CoWoS
31:44 Chiplets, UCIe, and Packaging Tiers
34:08 The EMIB Portfolio: T, M, Active
37:01 An Intel Foundry Exclusive
41:21 AI's Role in Packaging
43:26 Future: Top-Side Optics
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@austinsemis @vikramskr @Intel_Foundry
Jesse Freund retweeted
Intel announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire @ClassiqTech to advance scalable quantum computing.
Combining Intel’s quantum software platform, silicon spin-qubit technology and advanced manufacturing expertise with Classiq’s automated quantum algorithm synthesis platform to help create a full-stack quantum computing platform, while continuing to support a modality-and hardware-agnostic software solution that enables an open and collaborative quantum software ecosystem - intel.com/content/www/us/en/…
Jesse Freund retweeted
$INTC is buying @classiqtech, Intel's first acquisition under Lip-Bu Tan. Not an AI deal. Quantum software. Terms weren't disclosed, and Intel expects to close in the first half of 2027. Thanks to Intel CTO @magicsilicon Pushkar Ranade and Classiq CEO Nir Minerbi for the brief.
I'll be honest. When @LipBuTan1 came on board, I had no idea how long Intel quantum would be around. This answers it. Intel is doubling down and turning a research program into a business.
Some thoughts:
-This is a business buy, not a technology buy. Intel has spin qubits, Horse Ridge cryo-control chips and its own quantum SDK, but never built a business around them. Classiq brings 50-plus enterprise customers like AT&T, BMW and Comcast, 10-plus national programs and about 130 people. Pushkar told me that's twice the size of Intel's internal quantum team.
-Intel bought the layer that wins regardless of which qubit wins. Classiq targets 50-plus systems and simulators across superconducting, trapped-ion, neutral-atom and spin. Smart, and a hedge on Intel's own spin bet.
-Neutrality is everything. Classiq's investors include the venture arms of $AMD and $QCOM, plus $IONQ. Lip-Bu has called Classiq the Cadence of quantum. Cadence works because competing chip companies trust it with their designs. Intel says it will keep Classiq modality- and hardware-agnostic. Like I said about IonQ and SkyWater, it can't become viewed as captive.
-IBM's Qiskit and NVIDIA's CUDA-Q mostly work at the circuit level. Classiq pitches itself as the design-automation layer above them, and it plugs into CUDA-Q instead of fighting it.
-My colleague @Moor_Quantum says quantum no longer has a physics problem, it has a manufacturing problem. Hitachi plans to design 100-plus-qubit chips with Intel on an 18A-based quantum process. Nir's pitch to other qubit makers is Intel's foundry, simulation and controllers. IBM's Anderon is going after the foundry piece.
-Intel's datacenter AI chip acquisitions, Nervana and Habana, didn't work out. This time, Pushkar told me he wants Nir to lead Intel's quantum business. Right call.
I've said quantum is 5-7 years out for 15 years, and I'm sticking with it. That's why software matters now. Developers, apps and customers have to be in place before the hardware is ready. Intel missed mobile and this wave of DC GPU build out.. Lip-Bu doesn't want to miss quantum.
Spin qubits, cryo-CMOS control, an 18A-based quantum process, its own SDK and now Classiq. Once this closes, Intel has a full quantum stack. Now it has to sell it.
Intel to Acquire Classiq to Create a Full-stack Quantum Computing Platform
Acquisition combines Classiq's synthesis platform with Intel’s spin-qubit manufacturing and software expertise—enabling Intel to become a full-stack quantum computing provider
intel.com/content/www/us/en/…
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I spent two days touring Intel’s most advanced fab and talking to its technical leadership to understand what the chips of the future will look like.
A lot of what's coming next – gate-all-around transistors, backside power, CFET, hybrid bonding – is hard to follow without actually seeing it, so we made all the awesome animated explainers that I wish I had while I was prepping.
I also asked Intel’s leadership how the semiconductor industry will cope with the enormous shock in demand from AI.
AI compute has grown 3x a year for the last decade, but according to Intel's CTO, Intel could only double leading-edge wafer production with today’s global stock of chipmaking tools.
What kinds of tricks can foundries pull to extend this crossover point where demand surges way ahead of supply?
This was a totally new format for us - hope you enjoy!
0:00:00 – Intro
0:00:47 – How Intel brings up a new process node
0:03:22 – What Intel learned from 10nm
0:06:28 – From planar transistors to gate-all-around
0:13:13 – Why High-NA EUV pays off for Intel but not TSMC
0:19:20 – Could chips have evolved completely differently?
0:23:33 – Inside Intel's "Hot Topics" meeting
0:29:30 – Replacing copper wires with ruthenium
0:32:41 – Why stacked transistors take a decade to ship
0:39:45 – Hybrid bonding and the chip-to-chip bottleneck
0:48:00 – There aren't enough tools to 10x chip production
0:53:14 – Can Intel catch up to TSMC?
1:01:02 – Terafab, and rethinking the fab from scratch
👀
Building semiconductor leadership requires both innovation and the manufacturing capacity to bring it to scale.
In his latest piece, Naga Chandrasekaran highlights Intel Foundry’s growing U.S. footprint, including progress on our Ohio site.
Read more: ms.spr.ly/6010avfyk
#IntelFoundry
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Intel bets the next phase of AI belongs to the rightsized system, not the biggest one ift.tt/Dma8Tts
Jesse Freund retweeted
Live from #SplunkConf26 Wide ranging conversation yesterday between @jpatel41 and @LipBuTan1 covering everything from transformation underway at @intel, to capitalizing on new markets, relevance of CPU, agents, security. Worth a listen!
Welcome!!!
Right here at @intel's Ocotillo campus, some of the most precise, high-stakes manufacturing on the planet is happening. Intel is building the chips that power our computers, our hospitals, and our national defense.
Arizona has become the center of American semiconductor manufacturing, and that didn't happen by accident. It happened because we fought to bring this industry back to American soil.
Jesse Freund retweeted
Tonight @Intel_Foundry & @ASMLcompany announced real progress on High NA EUV. With over 1 million wafers processed to date and High NA in production today, our collaboration is delivering value now while laying the foundation for future scaling.
tomshardware.com/tech-indust…
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Hundreds of billions are being invested in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing. But spending isn’t the same as capability.
VP and Principal Analyst @MattKimball_MIS examines how much of the full AI chip lifecycle actually operates on U.S. soil today.
📌 Read the full insight:
moorinsightsstrategy.com/bey…
Jesse Freund retweeted
The future of AI depends on a strong foundation. At AI Infra Summit 2026, we're highlighting the latest solutions from Intel Core, Intel Xeon, and Intel AI designed to support AI workloads across edge, enterprise, cloud, and physical AI.
Learn more: ms.spr.ly/6018auXAG
Jesse Freund retweeted
Now is the time to visit the Ballard Locks fish ladder: Thousands of Chinook salmon have passed through this August, including more than 2,500 counted during one five-day stretch. myballard.com/2026/08/25/tho…
Jesse Freund retweeted
AI-scale workloads are putting greater pressure on data center CPUs to deliver more performance within fixed power limits. That makes transistor architecture and power delivery key factors in determining how effectively process improvements translate into real processor performance.
In partnership with @intel, @TheFuturumGroup examines how Intel’s 18A-P process combines RibbonFET transistors with PowerVia backside power delivery to improve operating frequency at low voltage. The brief explores the silicon-validated results behind these technologies and what they mean for Diamond Rapids, Intel’s next-generation Xeon platform.
⏯️ Explore the key findings, and use the link to download the full brief:
👉 bit.ly/4xjx4GC
#Semiconductors #DataCenter #Intel #AIInfrastructure #Futurum
Jesse Freund retweeted
Get ready for an exclusive look behind the scenes of developing Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors. The Making of Panther Lake documentary premieres August 26 at 12pm PT on Intel Tech YouTube.
Join us for the watch party on the Intel Insiders Discord: ms.spr.ly/6018aOcQr
Jesse Freund retweeted
At #HotChips2026, Intel is showcasing three upcoming architectures spanning the rack to the edge, including two processors powered by Intel Foundry technologies such as Intel 18A, Intel 18A-P, Foveros Direct 3D packaging, and more. ms.spr.ly/6019aOePU
#IntelFoundry