What will computer chips look like in 2045?
Oct 22, 2026 · 1:09:01
Dwarkesh Patel tours Intel's fabs to interview its technical leadership — process chief Chris Auth, CTO Pushkar Arundhate, and researcher Jack Cavalieros — about how future chips get built and why Intel could only double leading-edge wafer output with today's chipmaking tool stock while AI compute demand grows 3x a year. Auth explains 14A development across ~2,000 process steps, how Intel's 10nm delays came from over-innovating without EUV as TSMC adopted it four years earlier, and why backside power makes High-NA EUV worthwhile for Intel though not TSMC. Cavalieros covers ruthenium beating copper below ~20nm pitch and CFET stacked transistors. Arundhate argues fabs are ~80% fixed cost, the memory supply crunch exceeds compute's, fab costs double every 4-5 years, and only three advanced foundries remain.
