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After much hype and speculation over the weekend, concerning the possible outsourcing of Intel Corp’s ‘Atom’ microprocessor fabrication to TSMC, the companies have officially announced that Intel would port its Atom processor CPU cores to the TSMC technology platform including processes, IP, libraries, and design flows to boost third party System-on-Chip (SoC) development of the core. The new agreement does not include a foundry deal for production outsourcing from Intel to TSMC.

"We believe this effort will make it easier for customers with significant design expertise to take advantage of benefits of the Intel Architecture in a manner that allows them to customize the implementation precisely to their needs," said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. "The combination of the compelling benefits of our Atom processor combined with the experience and technology of TSMC is another step in our long-term strategic relationship."

"TSMC values our strategic relationship with Intel. This MOU brings together the Intel Architecture and the TSMC technology platform. We expect this collaboration will help proliferate the Atom processor SoC and foster overall semiconductor growth," said Dr. Rick Tsai, president and CEO of TSMC. "With this agreement, our technology platform extends beyond the two companies’ current collaboration to support future Intel embedded x86 products."

Intel has been pushing the Atom core at smart-phones, netbooks and nettops. The move is also intended to enable Atom to compete on equal terms with ARM’s microprocessor cores that dominate the mobile phone market, which are predominantly fabricated at major foundries such as TSMC.

Intel’s Atom CPU is based on 45nm HKMG microarchitecture.