Tag Archives: 16nm

Advanced Micro Devices has not updated its server and high-end desktop microprocessors for well over two years now, which is why market shares of AMD Opteron and AMD FX central processing units are negligible. However, a lot may change next year, when AMD roll-out its next-generation CPUs based on its …

Nvidia Corp. has reportedly taped out its next-generation high-performance graphics processing unit that belongs to the “Pascal” family, according to a market rumour. If the information is correct, then Nvidia is on-track to release its new GPU around mid-2016. The company needs its “Big Pascal” graphics processor to build next-generation Tesla …

Advanced Micro Devices has been slashing its research and development budgets for a number of quarters in a row now due to decreasing revenues. With limited R&D resources, AMD has to prioritize its spendings. According to chief executive officer of AMD, at present the company spends most of its R&D …

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has announced that it will start to install equipment needed to produce 10nm chips in one of its semiconductor fabrication facilities next month. The company hopes to start risk production of 10nm chips late this year. TSMC will start to construct its 10nm pilot line at …

ARM Holdings may be  accelerating its development cycles in a bid to offer better solutions for the booming market of smartphones and the emerging market of low-power servers, according to a high-tech analyst. Faster design cycles mean that ARM is making a step closer to Intel's tick-tock cadence. Technologies developed …

Chief executive officer of Nvidia Corp. this week said that the company is designing a broad lineup of solutions for different applications powered by its next-generation “Pascal” graphics processor architecture and other technologies from the company. Jen-Hsun Huang seems to be impressed about the prospects of products that are in …

Being one of the largest fabless designers of semiconductors in the world, Nvidia Corp. is a very special customer of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. For more than a decade, TSMC has been the primary producer of Nvidia graphics processing units and despite of Nvidia’s recent engagement with Samsung Foundry, TSMC …

Advanced Micro Devices said that it will not introduce an all-new GPU micro-architecture next year, but will significantly improve its GCN [graphics core next] technology to boost performance and energy-efficiency. AMD originally introduced its graphics core next (GCN) architecture in late 2011 along with its Radeon HD 7970 graphics card …

Advanced Micro Devices on Wednesday said that it will delay high-volume shipments of microprocessors powered by its custom ARMv8-compatible “K12” cores to 2017. The company did not reveal any reasons behind the postponement. AMD’s “K12” core is the company’s first 64-bit ARMv8-A-compatible microprocessor engine designed entirely in-house. Development of the …

Although leaked roadmaps of Advanced Micro Devices indicate that the company’s next year’s accelerated processing units and central processing units will all be made using 14nm FinFET fabrication process at GlobalFoundries, this does not mean that AMD plans to cease using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. as a production partner. For …

United Microelectronics Corp., the world’s second largest contract maker of semiconductors, said that it would not offer 20nm planar fabrication process, but will jump directly to 16nm FinFET manufacturing technology. Skipping the node will help the company to catch up with its competitors. Although it was widely expected that UMC …

Samsung Electronics plans to invest additional $9.2 billion in capacity expansion of the world’s largest semiconductor fab, a media report claims. At present it is unclear how exactly Samsung plans to expand its fab, but the cost of the whole project – around $23.6 billion – already looks staggering. Samsung …

Despite of a lot of hype about ARM-based servers in the recent years, actual number of their deployments remains very low. However, ARM Holdings is optimistic about its market opportunities and expects 20 per cent of servers to be ARM-based by 2020. In a bid to dramatically increase its share of …

ARM Holdings is developing a broad family of general-purpose processing cores that will be made using 10nm and 16nm process technologies, according to a roadmap that was revealed earlier this month. Just like today, the upcoming cores from ARM will address different segments of the market. Earlier this year ARM …

Advanced Micro Devices continues to express confidence that its next-generation high-performance general-purpose processing cores – known as “K12” and “Zen” – will be successful on the market of servers. After exiting the market of micro-servers by shutting down SeaMicro, AMD now focuses on development of high-performance microprocessors for x86 and …

Although Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has delayed mass production of chips using its 16nm fabrication processes, this did not happen only because of low yields. According to the company, 16nm yields at TSMC are approaching mature levels. This year TSMC will offer two 16nm process technologies for clients: 16nm FinFET …

Nvidia Corp. will use Samsung Electronics’ manufacturing capacities to produce graphics processing units, according to a media report. The move will help Nvidia to increase performance of its GPUs without boosting their power consumption. When Nvidia revealed earlier this year that it will use Samsung’s services to build its chips, …

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. this week unveiled first details about its 10nm fabrication process at the TSMC Technology Symposium in the U.S. The official goals are slightly less ambitious than those discussed last year, but the general focus of TSMC’s 10nm manufacturing technology is clear: considerable increase of transistor density compared to …

Samsung Electronics overwhelmed the world of semiconductors when it announced plans to build a chip production plant that will cost almost $15 billion last October. At the time it was unclear for what the giant plans to use its fab in Pyeongtaek, a city south of Seoul. According to a …

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. this week confirmed that it has a team of engineers working on a manufacturing process that will succeed 10nm fabrication technology towards the end of the decade. While the company did not reveal details about its sub-10nm process, it said that it considers various options for …

Micron Technology has announced that it will reduce shipments of its NAND flash memory to the spot market. While the move may have limited effects on the market initially, it could lead to consolidation of makers of NAND flash-based devices, including solid-state drives. In a bid to improve its profit …

Advanced Micro Devices is working on a new graphics processing unit code-named “Greenland”, which will be released next year. The new graphics chip will replace code-named “Fiji” GPU and will be AMD’s flagship graphics solution in 2016. Nothing particular is known about the forthcoming Radeon graphics processor, except its code-name. …

SK Hynix is about to announce new multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips that are expected to boost performance of solid-state drives in various applications. The new chips also promise better reliability than previous-generation NAND flash ICs [integrated circuits]. The world’s third largest producer of NAND flash memory is …

Nvidia Corp. and Samsung Electronics have quietly signed an agreement under which the latter will produce computer chips for the former. At present, it is unknown whether Samsung will manufacture graphics processors or application processors for the chip designer, but it is obvious that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is no …

At its GPU Technology Conference Nvidia Corp. revealed some details about its next-generation code-named “Pascal” architecture of graphics processing units. As expected, the new GPUs will feature numerous innovations that will provide significant benefits in performance in various types of applications. Nvidia noted three key technologies that the “Pascal” GPUs will have: …

After IBM failed to produce enough code-named “NV40” graphics processing units for Nvidia Corp. back in 2004, the latter decided to make Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. its strategic manufacturing partner. Since then, virtually all of Nvidia GPUs have been produced by TSMC with one or two exceptions. Apparently, Nvidia wants …

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has announced that it will invest NT$500 billion ($15.9 billion) in expansion of its manufacturing capacities in central Taiwan. The company did not outline details of the upgrade plan, but it looks like the company is getting ready to significantly increase its abilities to produce semiconductors …

Samsung Electronics is expected to significantly improve its contract semiconductor manufacturing business this year thanks to early start of production using 14nm FinFET fabrication process. While Apple, the largest customer of Samsung, now orders chips not only to Samsung, but to TSMC as well, it continues to work with the …

ARM Holdings, a leading developer of mobile processors and solutions, on Tuesday introduced its second-generation high-performance 64-bit core based on the ARMv8-A architecture. While ARM has not revealed a lot of details about its new core, it said that it significantly increases performance compared to existing offerings and is the …

Advanced Micro Devices yet has to reveal its new families of graphics processing units this year, but already now the code-name of AMD’s 2016 graphics products lineup is known. Apparently, the company will continue to use names of islands to call its next-generation chips. AMD’s next-generation family of Radeon GPUs …