During Intel's Foundry Direct Connect symposium in San Jose, where Intel confirmed the ramp of the 18A node at the Arizona fab, the company also announced Intel has achieved a significant advancement in its future node development with the announcement of "turbo cell" technology for its upcoming 14A process. Now slated for production in 2027, this progress supports Intel's objective of introducing five process nodes within a four-year period. The 18A node is presently in risk production and incorporates RibbonFET gate-all-around transistors along with PowerVia, Intel's backside power-delivery architecture. Intel anticipates transitioning 18A to full-volume manufacturing later this year, thereby internalizing greater chiplet assembly work that was previously outsourced for designs such as Lunar Lake.

For the upcoming 14A process, it combines second-generation RibbonFET with PowerDirect, the company's enhanced power network. When implemented using High-NA EUV lithography, Intel projects a performance-per-watt gain of between 15 and 20 percent over the 18A process. Of particular interest is the introduction of turbo cells. These specialized standard-cell libraries enable designers to integrate both high-performance and energy-efficient cells within a single design block. Such flexibility permits precise optimization of chip speed, power consumption, and die area to meet diverse application requirements. In practical terms, turbo cells are expected to elevate peak CPU frequencies and accelerate critical GPU pathways without incurring substantial energy penalties. Intel has already distributed its PDK for the 14A node to prospective customers for feedback, with multiple partners already planning test-chip tape-outs. Complementing these advances, the company will employ advanced packaging technologies, including Foveros 3D stacking and EMIB, and a new high-bandwidth EMIB-T variant to integrate 14A and 18A dies within unified hybrid packages.