When shopping for a mortgage, car loan or new credit card, you may be presented with an interest rate and an annual percentage rate -- each of which will show you the cost of the loan in a different way. Like with so many seemingly mundane financial details, the real-world implications of these two rates can add up to hundreds or thousands of dollars over time.

Knowing the crucial differences between the interest rate and APR will help you calculate your monthly payment, understand the total cost of a loan and, ultimately, identify the best deal. Here's why understanding how an APR impacts your loan -- especially in the context of a mortgage that can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars -- is so important.

How interest rates work

An interest rate is the percentage of a loan you'll pay to the lender in exchange for borrowing money. With a mortgage, when you begin making monthly payments, interest is included in your payment. The actual rate you'll pay for a loan depends on a few factors.

Market trends

Interest rates are set by the Federal Open Market Committee (often referred to as "The Fed"), which is made up of representatives from the Federal Reserve. The Fed meets several times per year to discuss the state of the economy and adjust interest rates as needed. The Committee's job is to maintain healthy economic growth while keeping inflation at bay.

Currently, interest rates are at historic lows -- due in part to the coronavirus pandemic, but continuing a trend originating during the 2008 financial crisis. At the end of April 2021, the Fed decided to keep rates close to zero to keep financing as affordable as possible for businesses and individuals during this tough economic time.

Credit score

Your credit score also impacts the interest rate you're offered. Advertised interest rates are usually reserved for borrowers with excellent credit -- traditionally defined as a score of 760 or higher -- and may also include a rate discount for setting up automatic loan payments.

Individuals with a lower credit score (under 760) are usually offered higher interest rates to mitigate the lender's risk of losing money if the borrower defaults on their loan. A low credit score, a history of late payments or collection accounts can impact whether you're approved for a loan. And if you are approved, you'll likely be charged a higher interest rate than a borrower with good-to-excellent credit. 

Most lenders recommend cleaning up your credit and finances before applying for a loan. Improving your credit score by paying down your debts and creating a history of on-time payments could save you thousands of dollars in interest on a mortgage.

For example, look at how a 0.5% difference in interest rates can change the total cost of a $300,000 loan over 30 years. 

• Interest paid at 3.00%: $155,332.36
• Interest paid at 3.50%: $184,968.26

Though the numbers may be smaller for a credit card or car loan, modest differences in interest rates can add up over the years. 

Other costs

In addition to your interest rate, there are other costs included in your home loan. The interest rate may be the most significant factor, but annual fees, closing costs and additional charges may add to the cost of borrowing money. 

How annual percentage rate works

The annual percentage rate is typically higher than an interest rate because it includes all the costs of borrowing money. Some fees that may be incorporated into the APR are:

• Points (one point is equal to 1% of the loan)
• Loan-processing and administrative fees
• Underwriting fee
• Escrow or loan settlement fee
• Private mortgage insurance (for mortgages)
• Document-preparation fee
• Annual fee (for credit cards)

While you may not always be able to negotiate your interest rate, you may be able to negotiate some of the fees included in your APR. The fewer the charges associated with the loan, the lower the APR.

Lenders must legally display their APR

The Truth in Lending Act was enacted in 1968 to make credit cards and loans more transparent, so buyers know what they're comparing -- and signing up for. One of the Act's requirements is that lenders must report APR, which reflects the extra costs of borrowing more accurately. You'll find the APR advertised alongside the interest rate. You can also find it in the Loan Estimate. The interest rate is usually shown on page one under "Loan Terms," and the APR usually appears on page three under the "Comparisons" section.

Fixed vs. variable APR

A fixed APR does not change. But a variable rate APR can fluctuate based on index rate changes, such as the Wall Street Journal's published prime rate. Some variable APRs -- penalty APRs -- can also change as a penalty if you make late payments. 

How loan terms impact APR

The loan terms you choose will also impact the amount of interest and other fees you'll pay over the lifetime of your mortgage. You'll typically be able to make lower monthly payments and pay less monthly interest and fees with a 30-year mortgage than with a 15-year home loan. But, since you'll be making this payment for twice the amount of time, you'll ultimately pay more in interest. Generally, you'll pay less interest and fees overall with a shorter mortgage term.

Here's an example of how a loan term can impact your APR, based on a $250,000 home loan.

How loan term impacts APR

	Option A: 3.25% interest rate, 15 years	Option B: 3.25% interest rate, 30 years	Option C: 3.75% interest rate, 15 years	Option D: 3.75% interest rate, 30 years
Cost of points and fees	$2,500	$2,500	$1,200	$1,200
APR	3.43%	3.35%	3.84%	3.80%
Monthly payment	$1,405.34	$870.41	$1,454.44	$926.23
Total interest paid	$52,960.76	$113,348.55	$61,800.08	$133,443.23

In this example, Option B has the lowest APR -- 3.350% for a 30-year loan term -- and may seem like the best choice at first glance. The monthly payment is the smallest at $870.41, over $500 cheaper per month than Option A. However, because Option B is spread out across 30 years, you'll pay more than double the amount of interest than you would with Option A. 

Interest rate vs. APR: Which one should you use when mortgage shopping?

Bottom line: Interest rates are only part of the picture. When you're shopping for a mortgage or any other type of loan, comparing APR rates across lenders will give you the most accurate and complete view of your costs. A lender could advertise the lowest interest rate yet charge a higher APR, costing you more money in interest in the long term. 

Snap, the parent company of disappearing-message app Snapchat, said Thursday that it posted its first ever quarterly net profit, propelling the company's shares higher. 

"Achieving positive free cash flow for the full year is an important milestone as we are increasingly able to self fund our investments in the future, which positions us well to accelerate our vision for computing overlaid on the world through augmented reality," Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said during a call with analysts. 

The company reported revenue of $1.3 billion in the last three months of 2021, beating Wall Street's expectations of $1.2 billion. It earned 22 cents per share, more than double estimates of 10 cents per share. Snap posted a net profit of $22.6 million in the fourth quarter. About 319 million people logged in to Snapchat daily, an uptick of 20% compared with the same period last year. 

Snap's fourth-quarter earnings contrast with the quarterly performance of Facebook, which renamed itself Meta. On Wednesday, Facebook reported earnings that fell short of expectations and were punctuated by a first-ever drop in daily active users on its core social network. 

The rough performance at Facebook dragged other social media stocks, including Snap's, lower. Earlier on Thursday, Snap's stock closed down 24%, at $24.50 per share. Snap's earnings, however, didn't disappoint and the company's stock at one point jumped 56%, to $38.15 per share, in after-hours trading. 

Like other social networks, though, Snap also expected Apple's privacy changes to impact its ad business. Snap Chief Business Officer Jeremi Gorman said during a call that its sales team is helping advertisers adapt to these changes. Snap's ad business recovered more quickly than the company expected.

Snapchat continues to invest more in augmented reality, which lets users overlay a virtual image onto their view of the real world. Users are able to try out clothing, glasses and other accessories using AR. The company also teamed up with Universal to host a virtual concert with celebrity Jennifer Lopez and Colombian pop singer Malum on Thursday evening. 

"Augmented reality represents one of our most exciting long term revenue opportunities. AR is unique in that it is a fully immersive and interactive experience that delivers a measurable and repeatable return on investment for advertisers," Gorman said.

Your Netflix password acts as a the first level of defense on your account. You can simultaneously log out of all devices with one click, or share your password to give others access. But with so much chatter about which streaming service has best content, price and or interface, it's worth considering the privacy aspect too. Data breaches and hackers pose their own set of large-scale security problems you can't control, but you can still take some ownership in protecting your streaming account. And it's a step further than updating your password on a regular basis. 

While some platforms like Hulu and Apple TV Plus have two-factor authentication, which pairs your password with a code sent by text message or an authentication app, Netflix does not. But the streamer began offering profile PIN protection in 2020 as part of its parental controls, and it's a good idea to use it as an added layer of protection and personalization -- whether you have kids or not.

Why should you put a PIN in it?

Activating a Netflix profile PIN will help curb kids, roommates and parents from tampering with your recommendations, watchlist or viewing history. 

Have you ever opened the app to find a slew of kindergarten shows clogging up your Continue Watching row? Or maybe you've been caught off guard by all the new recommendations suddenly appearing in your queue "because you watched The Great British Baking Show, " which you really never did, but your mom binged it. Add a PIN and block outside interference from hackers, loved ones or anyone you've shared your coveted Netflix password with. And while your 13-year-old may not like being barred from sneak-watching Bojack Horseman, the PIN code is one parental control feature that can give you peace of mind. 

Another perk of the PIN? For those who provide Netflix access as the owner of an Airbnb or other vacation rental property, locking your profile can steer visitors toward the designated guest profile. Because you can control whether additional profiles can be added to your account with a PIN, those guests may also be less inclined to try and mess with your Netflix setup.

Read more: 10 Helpful Netflix Tricks You Need to Try

How to add a PIN to your Netflix profile

Netflix allows you to add a PIN to individual profiles on an account, but it must be done through a web browser rather than the app on your TV, gaming console or phone. Once you log in to your account, navigate to Account settings. Scroll down to the Profile & Parental Controls section of your profile. As the account holder, your profile should be at the top. Navigate to Profile Lock where you'll see the word "off" if a PIN is not activated. Click "Change."

You'll be prompted to type in the account password before heading to the Profile Lock screen. Mark the box that says require a PIN to access your profile. Create a four-digit code and click Save. Now, when you use the Netflix app, you'll be asked to enter the code to stream or download content. As the account holder, you can also set it up where users must enter a PIN to add more profiles. If you're the only person who knows the code, you're the only one who can create additional profiles.

It should be noted that anyone who knows your Netflix account password can alter the PIN requirements on the main account profile, as well as any other profile. With that in mind, you can update your password to share with trustworthy adults or opt to set up PINs on each person's behalf without giving up the password. The latter is ideal if all viewers live in one household.

Certain devices won't ask for a PIN

Once you save your PIN settings and your information is updated, you will be prompted to enter the PIN code each time you open the app and tap a PIN-protected profile. However, you may find that some devices don't ask for it. Though this may occur when you click on a locked profile, according to Netflix's help page, the PIN will still be required to watch a film or TV series within that profile. 

It looks as if the upcoming Galaxy Note 9 may not sport a fingerprint reader underneath the screen after all. 

According to KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (via AppleInsider), who previously speculated himself that the phone would have the sensor, Samsung is postponing the feature due to technical difficulties.

An embedded fingerprint scanner that reads your prints through the display has been rumored to come to Samsung's Galaxy phones for awhile. In December 2016, there was speculation that the Galaxy S8 would have it (instead, it featured a fingerprint sensor on the back). Suspicion continued for the Note 8, but that phone ended up having a scanner on the back, too. Now that the current Galaxy S9 flagship phone sports the same design, we're continuing to wait for Samsung to adopt the new tech.

The KGI analysis reported that Samsung may be skipping this feature for the Note 9 because current ultrasonic and optical sensing solutions do not "meet Samsung's technical requirements." Samsung may include the feature in another phone in the future though, possibly on the next Galaxy S phone at the earliest, according to Kuo.

Currently, we've seen only one phone with an under-display fingerprint reader. Known as the Vivo Apex, the phone also allows two fingerprints to be read at the same time for extra security. Vivo unveiled the Apex at MWC 2018 as a concept phone, but it was reported on Thursday that it will go into production mid-year. 

If Kuo's prediction about the Galaxy Note 9 is true, it 'll mean that Samsung will have to find another way to differentiate the Note 9 from the Galaxy S9. CNET's Jessica Dolcourt came up with six ways that the Note 9 could still beat the Galaxy S9. Perhaps we'll see one of these ideas come to fruition.

Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment.  

Galaxy S9 review : Two steps forward, one step back

MWC 2018 : All of CNET's coverage from the biggest phone show of the year.

Sometimes developers of religious apps take the edict to be "fishers of men" too far, and sometimes the faithful put their faith in the wrong apps. As public focus on the security of apps on the Google Play Store intensifies following years of data leaks, adware infections, security scandals and malware contagions, little coverage has been devoted to one of the most commonly exploited types of Android app: those aimed at believers. 

Religious apps have long been dangerous, malware-laden territory. A widely profiled 2015 white paper from security research firm Proofpoint analyzed more than 5,600 unique Bible apps for Android and iOS. Proofpoint categorized 140 Google Play Store apps as "high risk" over suspicious behavior and flagged 208 apps for malicious code. The firm went so far as to say it had found more malware in Bible apps than even gambling apps. 

Proofpoint's study wasn't restricted solely to Christian-audience software, either. Of the 4,500 Quran apps it analyzed, 16 contained malware and 38 were classified "high risk." Only two of the 200 Torah apps available at the time contained malware.

Despite these findings, Proofpoint did not share the names of any of the malware-laden apps at the time, telling several media outlets it was negotiating with the apps' developers. But things have been quiet on the religious app front since then. A spokesperson for Proofpoint confirmed that the firm has not since released the names of the offending apps covered in the 2015 study.

Security issues with many religious apps -- and apps in general, for that matter -- start with permissions. "Normal" permissions are usually granted by Android -- these let apps stay awake during use or get online when you tell them to. But "dangerous" permissions ask for sensitive data that, if mishandled, could easily compromise your privacy. 

Some permissions that could be considered dangerous may not put you in harm's way -- like when a book-reading app asks permission to save a book to your phone so you can read it offline. But sometimes these dangerous permissions include unnecessary requests for more information than needed. Those red flags alert you to an app's overall security: That book-reading app doesn't need to read your list of phone calls, pinpoint your exact location or change your system settings in order to function, does it?

Read more: 7 Android VPN apps you should never use because of their privacy sins

Most security researchers express a general rule of thumb: The fewer permissions an app requests, the better. For the faithful, a similar note of guidance might be found in Proverbs 20:19: "A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much."

These six popular apps aimed at a Christian audience talk to your phone far more than is necessary, potentially eliciting sensitive information. Here's what you need to know before letting them onto your Android phone.

King James Bible apps

Little appears to have changed since the Proofpoint study emerged and Bible apps in the Play Store started coming under scrutiny. When you search for "Bible" in the Play Store, four of the top five search results request dangerous permissions from users. 

King James Bible (KJV) from Salem New Media (a freemium app) has accumulated more than 10 million installs and a rap sheet from Privacy International, which discovered the app sending user data to Facebook in March after claiming it had stopped. The app is still available on the Play Store, and still makes egregious requests of users' data. 

New Salem Media wants the app to begin running as soon as your phone powers on (instead of when you open the app). Then it wants to know what other apps you have on your phone, what they're doing now and in the past, who you've been calling and how often, and your precise location. The company also tracks your activity and gives advertisers access to you, according to its own privacy policy. 

With more than 5 million installs, the most popular free Bible app, according to the Play Store, is King James Bible (KJV) from iDailybread.org. 

It asks for many of the same permissions as New Salem Media. It also wants permission to create new accounts (of what kind? it doesn't say), set passwords and change your settings to allow it to update whenever it wants. It also asks for permission to throw itself on top of other apps you're using -- giving it the power to change the appearance of your other apps or serve pop-up ads -- and to start running as soon as you turn your phone on. 

The 99 Android apps maintained by Watchdis Prayers -- including its King James Bible app -- go even further: The King James Bible app wants permission to do all of the same things the above Bible apps want to do, and then it wants to control near-field communications -- the system used by Android Pay. 

If you've installed any apps maintained by Watchdis Prayers, we strongly recommend uninstalling them and updating your passwords for any social media or email accounts you use on your phone -- at least until you know what this company is doing with such a massive amount of personal data and access to your digital wallet. 

Watchdis Prayers' only available contact information is a Gmail account purportedly manned in the Netherlands. It has no current privacy policy on its website, and offers no further information about who's running the show. A cached version of the company's site indicates it had a privacy policy last month, but it reads almost as cryptically as the blank page that replaced it.  

None of the three companies above responded to requests for comment. 

YouVersion Bible

YouVersion Bible is notorious for privacy violations and dangerous data collection. Yet, here it is: still seated firmly in the Play Store, racking up over 100 million installs with a whopping 22 permission requests. 

When Slate wrote about it back in 2013, the app's creator said that YouVersion collected so much data even Google took notice and sent its own engineers to help parent company LifeChurch.tv "sort out how to store and analyze the flow."

Today, the app asks for all of your contacts' information and your precise GPS location. Then it asks for not only the information for any accounts you have for other apps on your phone, but the ability to use the accounts on your device. Like many others in this list, YouVersion wants to start running as soon as your phone turns on, instead of waiting until you open the app.  

The app's creator, Bobby Gruenewald, told Slate all that data collection "is used to improve the experience of the app, with the aim of helping people globally to engage with the Bible."

I think you should find a more secure app to engage with the Good Word.

But following this article's publication, Gruenewald reached out to CNET to make a compelling case for YouVersion, and offered an update on how things have been developing since 2013. He said YouVersion has not only pared down its data collection, but actively aims to reduce it further.

He said he and his team now want a third-party privacy audit.

"It's horrifying to me personally that any user would feel like we violated their privacy," he said. "We view their experiences with the Bible as sacred."

As Android app permissions have been narrowed through the years, YouVersion's data collection practices have aggressively followed suit, Gruenewald said. He also said YouVersion has worked hard to never store user data that doesn't specifically help the app function.

YouVersion had no choice but to request broad permissions like those requesting call log access in order to get the more narrow part of that permission, which would allow the app, for instance, to silence its audio when a user receives a phone call, Gruenewald said. The company has never implemented the use of the data, he added.

"We've actually worked with Google and others to make sure that we're always refining best practices and wanting where possible to remove, if possible anything that wasn't necessary," he said. "I do this as an ongoing process."

Despite being regularly approached by third parties through the years who beg for a slice of YouVersion's anonymized data, Gruenewald said his company is a ministry that refuses to follow the business models of other free Bible apps who either monetize user data or share it.

"There are definitely some bad actors out there … and some of them have been extremely egregious and have made their app look like our app, and we've had to go through the court system," he said. 

"Because of that, we want to do our best to be the gold standard."

In an app market crowded with data exploiters, YouVersion's ambition to establish the gold standard is a welcome one. And if it follows through with that audit, I'll be the first to sing its praises.

Christian Broadcasting Network

Famous for its 700 Club programming and its controversial host Pat Robertson, the Christian Broadcasting Network maintains 11 Android apps for download in the Google Play Store. The largest purveyor of the apps surveyed here, CBN also maintains one of the most detailed privacy policies we've seen. We don't like what it's doing with your data, but we do like that it explains its usage in three readily accessible pages with layman-friendly language. 

Permission requests vary among each of CBN's 11 apps, but three ask for enough information to warrant sober concern. 

CBN Radio presents itself as an app that just wants to broadcast your favorite Christian music. But there are enough requests in its permission list to present a case for avoiding the app altogether. It wants to know your precise location, and what kinds of phone calls you're making and to whom and how often. It wants to be able to take pictures and video. And why does a radio streaming app need to begin running as soon as you turn on your phone? It doesn't. 

The myCBN Prayer & Devotional App has even more red flags. With more than 100,000 installs on the Play Store, the app wants to know everything CBN Radio knows, plus it wants to control your flashlight, turn your Bluetooth settings on and off (a notable security concern), get a full list of all your contacts and any accounts on your phone, take control of your camera and microphone, and control your location update notifications. 

The most concerning security issue with CBN apps may be that found in the permission requests of its children's app, Superbook Kids Bible, Videos & Games. It's generally not a good idea to allow an app to disable your lock screen, nor to start running as soon as your phone is turned on. But giving a kids' app permission to take photos and videos of your child, as this one does -- even as part of a feature allowing kids to upload their own pictures -- after you've allowed it to disable your lock screen may be a bridge too far. 

Even if you trust CBN with access to your intimate information, data breaches have become a near-monthly reality for competitively secure companies. You can request CBN delete your data, according to its policy, but once your data is copied into the hands of CBN's many third-party contractors, and their third-party contractors, there's no way to unring the bell. 

We would love to know why CBN needs this much access and control to provide seemingly simple services, and whether it has a plan in place in the event of a serious hack. CBN declined to be interviewed for this story, however. 

Christian Mingle and Christian Matrimony

Well-known dating app Christian Mingle has more than half a million installs on the Play Store, and was hit with a $500,000 fine in October of 2018 for automatically renewing subscriptions without users' express consent. It requests an overwhelming 23 permissions from its users, including some particularly curious ones. 

Why does a dating app want to disable your lock screen, then get a full list of all the apps on your phone and your history of usage for each? Why does Christian Mingle need to know your precise location, when you're making a phone call, who you're talking to, and how often you talk to them? Most curiously, why does Christian Mingle need to control your flashlight?

The lesser-known Christian Matrimony app, from CommunityMatrimony.com, likewise raises questions. With more than 100,000 installs, the app wants to change your audio settings and get a list of all the apps you've already installed on your phone. Then, like Christian Mingle, it wants to find out who you're making phone calls to. It goes beyond Christian Mingle, however, and asks for permission to directly call phone numbers. 

Representatives for both Christian Mingle and Christian Matrimony said they'd have someone call us back. So far that hasn't happened. 

Cold Case Christianity

The Cold Case Christianity app is a promotional tool for the writing of public speaker J. Warner Wallace, with more than 10,000 installs on the Play Store. Once given permission, it can read your personal contact list, find out who you've been calling and how often, and record your audio and change your audio settings. It can also take a peek at your pictures. 

The most intrusive permissions allow the app to look at your personal calendar and confidential information, then create or change events on your calendar and email guests to those events (your friends, coworkers and anyone else in your contacts) without your knowledge. 

Apps generally shouldn't do this. If they do, you should be able to find out what that app is doing with your information. But in the case of Cold Case Christianity, the website now redirects to the white-label commercial site Buildfire, and the privacy policy is likewise gone, last seen in 2017.

Wallace's only contact information appears to be his booking agent, Matt Croaker, who returned our call. 

"I don't think he'll be interested in commenting," Croaker said of Wallace. 

Bible Verses App 

The Bible Verses App from SpringTech has been classified by a number of credible virus-watching companies as a browser hijacker, and infects your browser with spyware-packing trojans. It takes over your browser and forces you to redirect to its fake search engine, then it tracks all of your browsing activity and prevents you from changing any browser settings until it's removed. 

Parent development company SpringTech no longer appears to have any contact information on the web. Get this extension and any related files off of your computer as soon as you can. Then change the passwords to all of your online accounts. 

To this end, PC Risk has a reliable walk-through on how to uninstall the Bible Verses App.

Originally published Oct. 2.
Update, Oct. 3: Adds comment from Bobby Gruenewald.

Music is fun, and science says people can even benefit from it across different situations. Studying for an exam? Classical music can help you absorb information better. Driving on a sunny day? Rap can make you a more attentive driver. Feeling angry? Heavy metal can help inspire and calm you down.

Spotify has a playlist for all of these situations, and more. However, if you follow (or create) a lot of playlists, you might lose track of your favorite ones. Then, instead of listening to the perfect gaming playlist because it's buried under other playlists, you're listening to your date night playlist, and you have the worst game of your life.

You can rearrange your Spotify playlists in whatever order you want, though, so you know where your playlists are in your library. Here's how.

How to rearrange your Spotify playlists

1. On desktop, open a web browser and sign in to your Spotify account, or open the Spotify desktop app. 

2. On the left side of the window, you should see your liked and created playlists. Click and hold on the playlist you want to move and drag that playlist up or down the list. You should see a green line appear when dragging the playlist that indicates where the playlist will be. 

3. When your playlist is where you want it, drop the playlist. 

Can I rearrange my Spotify playlists in the mobile app?

Unfortunately, you can't rearrange the order of your Spotify playlists on the mobile app at this time. Once you've rearranged playlists on desktop, though, you can sort your playlists by that same Custom order on mobile. Here's how.

1. Open your Spotify app.

2. Tap Your Library.

3. Tap the Playlists bubblenear the top of your screen.

4. Underneath Playlists, tap the ↓↑ symbol. This opens up the Sort by menu.

5. Tap Custom order.

The order of your Spotify playlists on mobile and desktop should now be the same. Remember, if you don't rearrange the playlist order on desktop first, Custom order won't show up as an option. You can also arrange your playlists in the Sort by menu by Recently played, Recently added,Alphabetical or Creator, which arranges the playlist in alphabetical order based on who created the playlist. 

For more on Spotify, you can read how to make your Spotify playlists sound better, what Spotify's Car Thing is and how to find the lyrics to what's playing on your Spotify.

After years of trouble and delay, Intel's chipmaking business finally has some good news to report. The most advanced manufacturing process the company has committed to will arrive in the second half of 2024, six months earlier than planned.

Intel fell behind rivals Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and Samsung because of problems modernizing its manufacturing, and it convinced chip designer Pat Gelsinger to return to the company as chief executive in 2021. Shortly afterward, Intel laid out a road map that meant five improvements to its manufacturing processes in four years, with manufacturing processes named Intel 7, Intel 4, Intel 8, Intel 20A and Intel 18A. Each step improves a chip's performance relative to its power consumption.

Those steps are the foundation of a plan to catch up to rivals in 2024 and surpass them in 2025. If successful, Gelsinger's plan will help Windows PCs keep up with ever more powerful Macs, return Intel to its glory days at the vanguard of the semiconductor business, justify its tens of billions of dollars of expenditures and slow the shift of chip manufacturing from the US to Asia.

"Intel must have good confidence in the [schedule] pull in," said Tirias analyst Kevin Krewell. "Otherwise, why announce it this early?"

Intel detailed the advancement along with the announcement that it's opened its latest chip fabrication facility, or fab, devoted to developing its next-gen manufacturing processes. It performs such work at its newly named Gordon Moore Park in Oregon, where it's investing $3 billion in the new Mod3 wing of its D1X fab. Intel replicates its D1X processes across fabs all around the world.

The manufacturing progress news bodes well not just for Intel's 2024 chips, but also for Intel's business using the steps on the way.

Those steps are important for Intel's own processors and for another part of Gelsinger's recovery plan, Intel Foundry Services, a separate business unit set up to build others' chips the way TSMC and Samsung do. IFS customers will get access to Intel 3 and Intel 18A processes, the company said.

Gelsinger had hinted earlier that its chip manufacturing improvements were on or ahead of schedule, and he showed off an 18A wafer with test chips in February. Intel didn't offer specifics on what went well. 

The new 270,000-square-foot Mod3 building has high enough ceilings and strong enough floors to accommodate the latest machines used to etch circuitry onto the silicon crystal wafers that after months of processing steps become microchips, said Ryan Russell, corporate vice president of logic technology development.

Intel was slower than rivals to move to chipmaking equipment that uses extreme ultraviolet light to inscribe smaller circuitry elements on chips, a technology called photolithography that's a key part of processor miniaturization. Under Gelsinger, Intel is trying to play nicer with chip fabrication equipment makers like Dutch ASML. Indeed, Intel will receive ASML's first model of a second generation of EUV machines using an approach called high numeric aperture that inscribes finer lines than conventional EUV.

Intel has taken several measures to ensure it doesn't repeat mistakes made adopting its last two manufacturing processes, called Intel 10 and Intel 7. For one thing, it's spending more money on test wafers to try different options.

"Having more silicon that you can run in parallel really lets you speed up your development process because you can afford to run more innovative experiments," Russell said.

For another, Intel has decoupled improvements and developed contingency plans so it can keep moving ahead even if all its ideas don't pan out.

Two big developments coming with Intel 20A are backside power delivery, branded PowerVia, which moves electrical power supply circuitry to the opposite side of the processor instead of blending it with millions of communication channels. Another is the new "gate all around" design for transistors, the core circuitry element that processes data, which Intel brands as RibbonFET.

They're both dramatic changes, but Intel is developing PowerVia with conventional transistors, too, in case the RibbonFET approach has problems, said Sanjay Natarajan, senior vice president of logic technology development.

Intel also is adopting high numeric aperture lithography more flexibly. That's scheduled to arrive in Intel's 2025 chipmaking process, but the company can change course.

"We're prepared for a 2025 intercept," Natarajan said. "If high NA is really mature later, let's say 2026, we're prepared for the right intercepts there."