Randhir Thakur told EE Times that IFS plans to be part of the U.S. DoD SHIP program, which will necessitate deep knowledge of GAA technology facilitating high-transistor–density 3D chips.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is Intel Foundry Services’ (IFS’s) “No. 1” customer, IFS president Randhir Thakur told EE Times, noting that IFS plans to be part of the DoD state-of-the-art heterogeneous integrated packaging (SHIP) program. That program will necessitate deep knowledge of gate-all-around (GAA) technology facilitating high-transistor–density 3D chips.

Intel’s new foundry unit has an initial $250 million contract with the DoD to provide chip design and development. The next step, for a much larger and unnamed dollar figure, will include manufacturing if IFS can meet certain national security criteria, Thakur said in an interview on the sidelines of Intel’s latest fab project in Columbus, Ohio.

“They [the DoD] produce a few chips, but boy, they better work and be secure,” Thakur said. If IFS hits the stringent quality targets of the DoD, other customers will feel much more relaxed, he said.

10/17-19 EAC