Intel lands Altera as its biggest chip manufacturing customer to date

Many of us see Intel as self-serving with its chip manufacturing, but that's not entirely true: it just hasn't had very large customers. A just-unveiled deal with Altera might help shatter those preconceptions. Intel has agreed to make some of the embedded technology giant's future field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) using a 14-nanometer process, giving Intel a top-flight customer while gets Altera a leg up over any rivals stuck on less efficient technologies. The pact may be just the start -- Intel VP Sunit Rikhi portrays the deal for Reuters as a stepping stone toward a greater role in contract chip assembly. We're not expecting Intel to snatch some business directly from the likes of GlobalFoundries and TSMC when many of their clients are ARM supporters, or otherwise direct competitors. However, we'll have to reject notions that Intel can't share its wisdom (and factories) with others.