Their x86/64 small SoCs could not cut it, so now they are switching to ARM? Too many hands in the pot already I'm afraid, didn't AMD back out of the ARM race?

A sign of the times really. The tech is on the verge of maxing-out and it's getting harder to find new business.

Their x86/64 small SoCs could not cut it, so now they are switching to ARM? Too many hands in the pot already I'm afraid, didn't AMD back out of the ARM race?

They are not switching to ARM. They are renting their fabs basically. Intel is by far the most advanced chip manufacturer in the world. Most other fabs are at least 3 years behind them. With this move they will make a ton of extra money and have a clear peek into everything their competition does. It's a win-win from them.

Not really. The 14 nm process is good from Global Foundaries/Samsung, and TSMC on the shrunken node as well. Intel does have 10 nm but currently they haven't got it working quite right. So far, instead of getting high performance 10 nm Cannonlake processors we're getting a modified Kaby Lake (Coffee Lake) instead, on 14 nm. Cannonlake is now reserved only for the low end and slower parts. The news of a 6-core Coffee Lake (Kaby Lake Refresh, and Kaby Lake a Skylake Refresh was already an added processor due to Cannonlake delays) overshadowed this fact.

Intel's 14nm has a smaller feature size compared to Samsung's 14nm. http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/FeatureSizes1.png Their 10nm extends the gap even further according to reports at semiwiki (not to be confused with semiaccurate)

Not really. The 14 nm process is good from Global Foundaries/Samsung, and TSMC on the shrunken node as well. Intel does have 10 nm but currently they haven't got it working quite right. So far, instead of getting high performance 10 nm Cannonlake processors we're getting a modified Kaby Lake (Coffee Lake) instead, on 14 nm. Cannonlake is now reserved only for the low end and slower parts. The news of a 6-core Coffee Lake (Kaby Lake Refresh, and Kaby Lake a Skylake Refresh was already an added processor due to Cannonlake delays) overshadowed this fact.

It's not even close actually. The Intel 14nm is almost what the TSMC/GloFo 10nm is going to be. Give it a read here.

“Not all 10nm technologies are the same,” said Mark Bohr, a senior fellow and director of process architecture and integration at Intel. “It’s now becoming clear that what other companies call a ‘10nm’ technology will not be as dense as Intel’s 10nm technology. We expect that what others call ‘7nm’ will be close to Intel’s 10nm technology for density.” It wasn’t always like that. Traditionally, chipmakers scaled the key transistor specs by 0.7X at each node. This, in turn, roughly doubles the transistor density at each node. Intel continues to follow this formula. At 16nm/14nm, though, others deviated from the equation from a density standpoint. For example, foundry vendors introduced finFETs at 16nm/14nm, but it incorporated a 20nm interconnect scheme. Technically, the foundries didn’t introduce finFETs at a full node (14nm), but rather at a half node. TSMC, for one, calls it 16nm.

Their x86/64 small SoCs could not cut it, so now they are switching to ARM? Too many hands in the pot already I'm afraid, didn't AMD back out of the ARM race?

Actually the Atoms, since Bay Trail, have competed very well in the mobile sector (tablets and 2 in ones) with the competition from Qualcomm and the others. They are not switching but rather renting out their manufacturing facilities.

Just a hedge against lost revenue from AMD CPU competition with Zen and Zen +.

Their x86/64 small SoCs could not cut it, so now they are switching to ARM? Too many hands in the pot already I'm afraid, didn't AMD back out of the ARM race?

Intel is going to be manufacturing ARM based processors for other companies. Intel has no interest in developing ARM based processors. The profit margins aren't large enough. AMD is still working on ARM based processors. They recently released an ARM based Opteron and there's rumored to be an ARM based Zen processor in the works.

Just a hedge against lost revenue from AMD CPU competition with Zen and Zen +.

What lost revenue?

Intel isn't doing just x86 or 64 bit x86. They were in RISC cpus as well. Even if it didn't work out as well. (i960 for example; i think it has some Arm in it's DNA. Had that chip in my first DSL modem.)

This board has a short memory. Intel inhereted an ARM license many years ago when they purched DEC's STrongARM division, and built it's own line of ARM processors called xscale. Even when they sold xscale to Marvell a decade ago, they kept their ARM license.

Intel is going to be manufacturing ARM based processors for other companies. Intel has no interest in developing ARM based processors. The profit margins aren't large enough.

Last quarter Qualcomm had $6.0BN revenue and $1.2BN net profit over that. The profit margins are amazing, considering the sector, and Intel also has the best fabs in the world to produce chips, unlike Qualcomm who has to beg around Samsung/TSCM to get priority over Apple. The only reason that Intel won't make their own ARM chips now is that they would bury half of their tactical advantage, x86. They are afraid that as OSes become more and more "agnostic", and as apps stand on top of things like .NET, x86 will eventually be irrelevant once everyone coalesces around 7nm. So they are not about to go dig their own grave.

This board has a short memory. Intel inhereted an ARM license many years ago when they purched DEC's STrongARM division, and built it's own line of ARM processors called xscale. Even when they sold xscale to Marvell a decade ago, they kept their ARM license.

I used to have one of those. A QTEK one. Indeed a lot of people forget. Intel did that back then because it was Windows Mobile and a natural continuation of the Wintel alliance (back then).