I read the article. What does it mean to optimize an Arm design for an Intel node process? They're going to make it easier for Intel fabs to make Arm chips? Is this because of the new Intel fab to be built in the US? Also, does that mean Intel will be getting more into producing Arm chips for themselves?
In these very advanced manufacturing nodes, your choice of transistor dimensions are quantized and very limited (it used to be continuous). Customers generally get what they get, and have to do their best with what's available.
With DTCO, the idea is that ARM can do some initial design and see what their PPA looks like, then feed that information back to Intel who can then tweak the manufacturing process itself to make improvements specific to the ARM product. Similarly, ARM can optimize their design based on feedback from Intel about what is possible with their process. (Hence co-optimization).
The impression I get is that IFS is still in need of customers, and they probably got a big chunk of cash from the US government to help develop the business. If they can show that a particular ARM core performs better on their process, it would drive a lot of business.
I generally read the comments before the article, then article, then come back to the comments.
I don't know how popular that flow is but I have to imagine I'm not the only one.
It prevents me from having to read bullshit articles if it's already called out in the comments, and it highlights bits to pay extra attention to in the article.
