When Nvidia Corp. said earlier this year that it would delay its code-named Volta architecture and will launch code-named Pascal architecture in 2016 instead, many considered this a as a not very good sign. What Nvidia did not mention was the fact that Volta is due in 2017, not in …
Read More »AMD downplays 20nm process tech: only ‘certain’ products will use it
Advanced Micro Devices on Wednesday implied that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s 20nm fabrication process would only be used for select products, whereas the main focus of the chip designer is on more advanced fabrication processes with FinFET transistors. Unfortunately, AMD did not reveal any actual plans. “From an overall standpoint, today …
Read More »AMD: GlobalFoundries makes APUs, CPUs, GPUs and console chips for us
GlobalFoundries, the world’s second largest contract maker of semiconductors, has leading edge process technologies and advanced fabs. However, in the recent years the company had to significantly alter its plans, which affected its performance and relations with customers. Fortunately, according to AMD, a key client of GF, the problems seem …
Read More »AMD to boost energy efficiency of APUs by 25 times by 2020
Advanced Micro Devices recently set a goal to improve energy efficiency of its accelerated processing units by 25 times by 2020. To achieve this goal, AMD will have to outpace historical energy efficiency trend by over 70 per cent, but the company claims it knows what to do and even …
Read More »ASML readies equipment to produce 5nm chips
We do not know exactly when companies like Intel Corp., Samsung Electronics or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. make their first chips using 7nm, 5nm, 3nm or 2nm process technologies. But we do know what should happen before leading semiconductor producers manufacture their new chips using ultra-thin process technologies: ASML should sell …
Read More »TSMC to have four EUV scanners in 2015, to use EUV tools for 10nm chips
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has ordered two additional extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography scanners from ASML Holding. The equipment will be delivered in 2015 and will complement initial two EUV scanners TSMC has today, which will be upgraded. Four scanners will let TSMC make chips using 10nm process technology and EUV lithography …
Read More »Invecas to help GlobalFoundries’ clients to migrate to new technologies
GlobalFoundries, a contract maker of semiconductors, has signed a deal with Invecas, a newly formed design services provider. Under the terms of the agreement, Invecas will help customers of GlobalFoundries to design chips to be made using leading-edge semiconductor process technologies. It is not an easy task to design chips …
Read More »GlobalFoundries to acquire semiconductor business from IBM
IBM and GlobalFoundries on Monday said that they have reached a definitive agreement under which the latter will acquire semiconductor manufacturing business of the former. GlobalFoundries will get intellectual property, world-class technologists and technologies related to IBM Microelectronics. It will also become IBM's exclusive server processor maker for 22nm, 14nm …
Read More »ASML: EUV tools continue to make progress, adoption to start in 2016
Although Intel Corp. does not plan to use lithography with extreme ultraviolet (EUV) wavelength with its 10nm fabrication process, it looks like other makers of semiconductors still pin hopes to take advantage of the EUV in connection with 10nm technology. ASML, one of the leading producers of semiconductor manufacturing tools, …
Read More »Intel: We will lead the world to 10nm microprocessors
Intel Corp. said on Tuesday that it would be the first company to start volume production of chips using 10nm fabrication technology. The company has already demonstrated the first wafers processed using 10nm tech, now it revealed that it will gradually increase its investments in the forthcoming technology in the coming …
Read More »ARM and TSMC expect first 10nm tape-outs in late 2015
ARM Holdings and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. on Thursday outlined some details regarding transition of chip production to 10nm FinFET manufacturing technology. The company’s reaffirmed that risk production of chips made using 10nm FF fabrication process will start in late 2015. The two companies agreed to work together on 10nm FinFET …
Read More »Intel to spend $6 billion on 10nm fab in Israel
The Israeli government announced this week that it has approved a plan submitted by Intel Corp. regarding upgrading its fab in Kiryat Gat. Under the terms of the plan the chip giant intends to significantly modernize its semiconductor manufacturing facility in order to build chips using 10nm process technology there. Intel …
Read More »AMD to use Synopsys IP to design 14nm/16nm, 10nm APU, GPU products
Advanced Micro Devices and Synopsys, a company that helps to implement complex semiconductor devices like APUs, CPUs and GPUs, this week signed a multi-year agreement that gives AMD access to a range of Synopsys DesignWare intellectual property on advanced 16nm/14nm and 10nm FinFET process technologies. In exchange, AMD transfers certain …
Read More »Intel: Transitions to thinner process tech will get harder
Although Intel Corp. imagines its future many years down the road and has a solid vision, it admits that going forward it will be much harder to achieve certain goals as manufacturing technologies get much more complex. Like other huge companies, Intel Corp. has big plans for the future. Recently …
Read More »Intel: no change in 10nm schedule
Although Intel Corp. is behind the schedule with its 14nm manufacturing process, the company claims it has not made any changes to its 10nm schedule. Unfortunately, Intel has not officially revealed exact plans regarding production of chips using 10nm process technology. “We have done no changes or shift to our …
Read More »Details of Intel Skylake client platforms leak online
A web-site has published the first details regarding Intel 100-series chipsets that will power personal computers based on the code-named Skylake microprocessors. As expected, Intel’s next-generation core-logic sets will support SATA Express as well as some other innovations. What is interesting is that the new chipsets will also support enhanced …
Read More »Intel to demonstrate 14nm chips, 10nm wafers in September
In a bid to convince its partners and investors that it is on-track with its Tick-Tock strategy, Intel Corp. reportedly plans to showcase several yet-unannounced products at the Intel Developer Forum event this September. While the company will demonstrate certain new things, it does not mean that everything goes truly …
Read More »TSMC to speed up development of 10nm process technology
In a bid to retain its leadership position on the market of contract semiconductor manufacturing, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is reportedly accelerating development of its 10nm FinFET process technology. At present TSMC is the leading contract maker of chips produced using 28nm process technology. It is believed that the company makes considerably …
Read More »Intel’s Skylake-Y processors to reduce power consumption to 4W
In the recent years Intel Corp. has been consistently reducing power consumption of its chips using different methods. The company not only developed very efficient low-power micro-architectures (such as the Silvermont), but it also managed to design special versions of its processors based on high-performance micro-architectures with extremely low power …
Read More »PCI Express 4.0 on track to double the bandwidth
The PCI Express technology has served as the main standard for PC and server expansion slots for exactly ten years now and will probably be used for many years to come. Members of the PCI SIG [special interest group] reportedly agreed to double the bandwidth of the PCI Express 4.0 …
Read More »Intel licenses wireless charging technology from WiTricity
At the Computex 2014 trade-show Intel Corp. announced that its reference designs based on the Skylake generation of microprocessors will support Rezence, a wireless charging standard developed by the Alliance 4 Wireless Power (A4WP). This week Intel actually licensed wireless charging solutions for computing devices designed by WiTricity. The A4WP’s …
Read More »Intel’s roadmap leaks: Broadwell-K, Broadwell-E and Skylake-K due in 2015
A desktop platform roadmap that Intel Corp. had reportedly demonstrated at a conference in Italy has been published by an unofficial source. A slide from the roadmap confirms that Intel intends to release both code-named “Broadwell” and “Skylake” microprocessors for desktops next year. In addition, the company intends to release …
Read More »Intel to boost graphics performance of Skylake chips by 50 per cent
Intel Corp. has been consistently improving performance of its integrated graphics cores for several years now and the code-named Skylake family of microprocessors will not be an exception. According to an unofficial media report, the Skylake will bring a rather dramatic improvement in terms of graphics processing performance compared to …
Read More »Xi3 and Intel team up for next-generation mini PCs
Xi3 Corp., a company that is mostly known for its small form-factor (SFF) Piston systems and its partnership with Valve Software, and Intel Corp. on Monday said that they would jointly work on next-generation mini personal computers. Xi3 also revealed plans to sell Intel’s NUC SFF systems. It is unclear …
Read More »Intel wants to get rid of cables with ‘Skylake’-based devices
The upcoming systems powered by the Core M “Broadwell” microprocessors will certainly be impressive. But the real revolution awaits us sometimes in 2015 – 2016, when Intel Corp.’s partners roll-out devices based on the code-named “Skylake” central processing units. Those mobile systems are expected to be completely wireless and therefore …
Read More »Intel to release first Skylake microprocessors in Q2 2015
While Intel Corp. has officially promised to release its next-generation Skylake microprocessors in the second half of next year, a new market rumour suggests that the company may unveil its first central processing units based on the Skylake micro-architecture already in the second quarter of 2015. A new version of …
Read More »TSMC extends 28nm chip lead time to 16 weeks, puts chip designers at risk
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has extended lead time for production of chips using 28nm process technology from ten to 16 weeks recently, a media report reads. The company reportedly claimed that the demand for 28nm manufacturing process is very high and therefore orders placed in May would take more time …
Read More »Intel Skylake PC platform: quad-core CPUs, new graphics, new chipsets
As previously reported, despite of the delay of the code-named Broadwell lineup of central processing units, Intel Corp.’s code-named Skylake chips are on-track to be introduced in 2015. Since preparations for introduction of the new platform are already underway in south-east Asia, the first leaks about the Skylake and systems …
Read More »Samsung unveils enterprise-class SSDs with TLC NAND memory
Samsung Electronics on Monday said that it had begun mass production of the world’s first enterprise-class solid-state drive based on triple-level-cell NAND flash memory. The new SSDs combine affordable TLC NAND with enterprise-grade performance and reliability for the first time. The number of erase/write cycles a TLC NAND flash cell …
Read More »TSMC reveals new 16nm FinFET+ process, vows to start 10nm production in Q4 2015
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. this week unveiled an improved version of its 16nm FinFET process technology that will hit volume production in 2015. In addition, the company revealed some details regarding its 10nm FinFET fabrication process and said that it would start risk production using the technology in Q4 2015, …
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