7nm
Synopsys has introduced the industry's first full-stack AI-powered suite of electronic design automation tools that covers all stages of chip design, from architecture to design and implementation to manufacturing. The Synopsys.ai suite promises to radically reduce development time, lower costs, improve yields, and enhance performance. The set of tools is set to be extremely useful for chips set to be made on leading-edge nodes, such as 5nm, 3nm, 2nm-class, and beyond. Chip Design Challenges As chips gain complexity and adopt newer process technologies, their design and manufacturing costs escalate to unprecedented levels. Designing a reasonably complex 7 nm chip costs about $300 million (including ~ 40% for software). In contrast, the design cost of an advanced 5 nm processor exceeds $540 million (including software), according to...
TSMC and ASML: Demand for Chips Remains Strong, But Getting Fab Tools Is Hard
TSMC's revenue this year is going to set an all-time record for the company, thanks to high demand for chips as well as increased prices that its customers are...
13 by Anton Shilov on 7/21/2022AMD: We’re Using an Optimized TSMC 5nm Process
When AMD started using TSMC’s 7nm process for the Zen 2 processor family that launched in November 2019, one of the overriding messages of that launch was that it...
44 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 1/10/2022Hot Chips 2021 Live Blog: Graphics (Intel, AMD, Google, Xilinx)
Welcome to Hot Chips! This is the annual conference all about the latest, greatest, and upcoming big silicon that gets us all excited. Stay tuned during Monday and Tuesday...
12 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 8/24/2021The AMD Ryzen 7 5700G, Ryzen 5 5600G, and Ryzen 3 5300G Review
Earlier this year, AMD launched its Zen 3 based desktop processor solutions with integrated graphics. Marketed as the Ryzen 5000G family, these processors are the latest offering to combine...
136 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 8/4/2021Intel's Process Roadmap to 2025: with 4nm, 3nm, 20A and 18A?!
In today’s Intel Accelerated event, the company is driving a stake into the ground regarding where it wants to be by 2025. CEO Pat Gelsinger earlier this year stated...
326 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 7/26/2021Intel Accelerated Webcast on July 26th: Update on Process Technology and Roadmaps
Earlier this year, new Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger outlined his new ‘IDM 2.0’ vision for Intel. This vision was a three pronged strategy based on improving its own process...
32 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 7/12/2021Intel to Create RISC-V Development Platform with SiFive P550 Cores on 7nm in 2022
As part of SiFive’s announcements today, along with enabling SiFive IP on Intel’s Foundry Service offerings, Intel will be creating its own RISC-V development platform using its 7nm process...
35 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 6/22/2021Intel Licenses SiFive’s Portfolio for Intel Foundry Services on 7nm
Today’s announcement from SiFive comes in two parts; this part is significant as it recognizes that Intel will be enabling SiFive’s IP portfolio on its 7nm manufacturing process for...
8 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 6/22/2021An AnandTech Interview with TSMC: Dr. Kevin Zhang and Dr. Maria Marced
In the past week, TSMC ran its 2021 Technology Symposium, covering its latest developments in process node technology designed to improve the performance, costs, and capabilities for its customers...
18 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 6/8/2021AMD Ryzen 5000G: Zen 3 APUs for Desktop Coming August 5th
Back in April of this year, AMD announced its new series of Ryzen 5000G processors with integrated graphics. These processors were an upgrade over the previous generation of 4000G...
35 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 5/31/2021TSMC Q1 2021 Process Node Revenue: More 7nm, No More 20nm
This week TSMC has disclosed its full quarterly financial results for Q1 2021. In those results the company often explains where the revenue demand is for its technologies, and...
40 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 4/15/2021AMD Ryzen 5000G APUs: OEM Only For Now, Full Release Later This Year
With the high demand for semiconductors causing most companies to focus on their high margin, high profitability components, I wasn’t expecting to see many launches of low-to-mid range hardware...
67 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 4/13/2021Intel to Revive ‘Tick-Tock’ Model, Unquestioned CPU Leadership Performance in 2024/2025
As part of today’s announcements, during Intel’s Q&A session after the prepared remarks, CEO Pat Gelsinger explained how Intel is going to revive its fortunes when it comes to...
110 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 3/23/2021Intel’s New IDM 2.0 Strategy: $20b for Two Fabs, Meteor Lake 7nm Tiles, New Foundry Services, IBM Collaboration, Return of IDF
The new CEO of Intel, Pat Gelsinger, has today outlined his vision for Intel over the coming years. During an online presentation entitled ‘Intel Unleashed: Engineering The Future’, Pat...
159 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 3/23/2021Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger To Host Webcast About Intel’s Future On March 23rd
Intel today has announced that the company will be holding an event on March 23rd to discuss the future of engineering at the company. Dubbed “Intel Unleashed: Engineering the...
33 by Ryan Smith on 3/17/2021Xbox Series X SoC: Power, Thermal, and Yield Tradeoffs
This week at ISSCC (International Solid State Circuits Conference), Microsoft presented a talk titled ‘Xbox Series X SoC: A Next Generation Gaming Console’, with hardware engineer Paul Paternoster presenting...
82 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 2/15/2021AMD Reports Q4 2020 Earnings: Analyst Q&A Transcript
At the end of every financial call, invited financial analysts have an opportunity to probe the key members of the company on the numbers, as well as future products...
11 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 1/26/2021AMD Zen 3: An AnandTech Interview with CTO Mark Papermaster
The announcement of the new Ryzen 5000 processors, built on AMD’s Zen 3 microarchitecture, has caused waves of excitement and questions as to the performance. The launch of the...
202 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 10/16/2020TSMC Updates on Node Availability Beyond Logic: Analog, HV, Sensors, RF
Most of the time when we speak about semiconductor processes, we are focused on the leading edge of what is possible. Almost exclusively that leading edge is designed for...
3 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 8/25/2020