With Intel's "tick-tock" product development cycle slowing down to a 3-launch cadence per silicon fab process, the company is preparing to launch no less than three micro-architectures on its next 10 nanometer silicon fab process. The first 10 nm CPU by Intel will launch in 2017.

In 2016, Intel will launch its 7th generation Core "Kaby Lake" processor, its third chip on the 14 nm process (after "Broadwell" and "Skylake"). The first 10 nm micro-architecture will be codenamed "Cannonlake," and will launch some time in 2017. Intel will build chips on the 10 nm for two more generations after "Cannonlake." The company's 2018 micro-architecture, built on the 10 nm will be codenamed "Icelake," and its 2019 release will be codenamed "Tigerlake." It's only 2020 that the company will pull out its next silicon fab process, 5 nm.

Taiwan's premier semiconductor foundry, TSMC, announced that it is on track to begin production of chips on its 7 nanometer silicon fab process by the first half of 2018. The company also announced that production on an even newer 5 nanometer process should commence two years later, in 2020. The company has currently cleared all decks for mass-production of chips on its 16 nm FFC (FinFET compact) node, with the company hoping to grab over 70% of the worldwide 14/16 nm production market-share by the end of 2016.