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We heard back in May that AMD was already preparing for the jump to 7nm CPUs in time for ‘Zen 2' and ‘Zen 3' some time in the next few years but it seems that the company is beginning to open up about the difficulties getting there. In an interview this week, AMD's CTO explained that 7nm is “the toughest” generational leap he has seen for years.
AMD CTO, Mark Papermaster, discussed the company's 7nm plans with EE Times this week, saying that the company had to “double” its efforts “across foundry and design teams” in the build up to 7nm. So far it's “the toughest” generational bump he has seen in a long time, requiring completely new CAD tools and changes to architecture.
Here is the full quote: “we had to literally double our efforts across foundry and design teams…It’s the toughest lift I’ve seen in a number of generations. The 7nm node requires new “CAD tools and changes in the way you architect the device and how you connect transistors. The implementation and tools change as well as the IT support you need to get through it”.
Now, 7nm is seen as “a long node” similarly to 28nm, which will allow teams to focus on micro-architecture rather than redesigning everything again for the next process node. While 7nm may end up lasting us quite some time, it is also going to take us a while to get there from the sounds of it.
KitGuru Says: 7nm technology is still a few years away but it's interesting to hear the inside perspective on it. Hopefully it will be worth the wait. For the time being though, we'll still be seeing 14nm and 14nm+.
GloFo says: https://www.globalfoundries.com/news-events/press-releases/globalfoundries-track-deliver-leading-performance-7nm-finfet-technology :
“Design kits are available now, and the first customer products based on 7LP are expected to launch in the first half of 2018, with volume production ramping in the second half of 2018.”.
Everything is OK.
Sure is. From production side of things. AMD is the one who needs to design chip for 7nm. If i’m not mistaken that is the point of the article. But then again, when Zen started they said that future iterations of Zen are well into development phase.
Intel already faces so many problem because of their low yield on 10nm, AMD will able to success with high yield its about probability
HH says, this Webcast says: https://hothardware.com/news/amd-confirms-7nm-tape-out-2h-2017-navi-zen-2
“Our goal is to be very competitive in terms of our long-term roadmap. If you look at the foundry’s 7nm roadmap compared to some of the other technologies out there it’s actually really competitive. I think the gap between the foundry roadmap and the Intel roadmap has gotten a lot closer. Our goal is to be aggressive with 7nm technology. We will be doing tape outs later this year and as we get closer to production will give more insights there. But the idea is to be more competitive throughout the portfolio.”.
The Webcast is here: http://ir.amd.com/mobile.view?c=74093&v=200&d=2&id=5257272 .
That doesn’t mean you will have a CPU in your hand for 2017 Christmas. It means Dr. Lisa Su will have the first run by years end. It’s possible that the first run will need a bunch of tweaks.
People tell the truth at Investor’s and Financial Analysts Meeting because those people understand business and if you mess around they won’t give you money. You can’t be Greek to them. They don’t want to promise too much nor be pessimistic.
I read the EE Times Article, it sounded more guarded but it didn’t say that there were problems, only that it’s not child’s play and they look for to the next level with Zen 3 (further refinements).
On track, full speed ahead.
Well i am glad because of it. Cause i started to aim at Coffe Lake from Intel , but i would gladly wait for Zen 2 to make full PC upgrade with Navi all together
Well, initial tape outs are always for the earliest engineering samples. Release usually comes 9-12 months after initial tape outs, at least for complex chips like PC CPUs and GPUs. So release is still a while away. But not overly so. We will be fine with 14nm+ and an improved iteration of Zen 1 until then.