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Everything is relative, so when a chip foundry like TSMC (which produces gear for the likes of NVIDIA) has a bad quarter, that means it only made a $1 billion in profit. Today's numbers reveal that the company has managed to rescue its halting fortunes after turning over $4.8 billion and making a tidy $1.68 billion in profit. The cause of this upswing was that orders for its coveted 28-nanometer process doubled in the period -- repaying some of the $8.5 billion spent developing it and keeping profits just a little over that of its close pal, Qualcomm.
Continue reading TSMC's 28-nanometer process pays off as it rakes in $1.68 billion profit in Q3
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets
TSMC's 28-nanometer process pays off as it rakes in $1.68 billion profit in Q3 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Oct 2012 05:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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ARM and TSMC are renewing their vows and plan to continue collaborating well into the future, as they work to optimize the 64-bit v8 architecture for the Taiwanese company's FinFET transistor tech. The two will push next-gen ARM chips to 20nm and beyond, and hopefully shorten the time to market for new designs. The FinFET process should also help boost frequencies, while keeping power consumption low -- a key to the continued success of the RISC architecture. The FinFET architecture is similar to Intel's own tri-gate transistor technology that was instrumental to nudging the Core architecture forward with Ivy Bridge. After those 64-bit ARM chips are up and running at 20nm and powering your next-gen smartphone, TSMC will begin to look at even smaller processes, with an eye on 15nm next. You'll find the entire joint profession of their love for one another after the break.
Continue reading ARM and TSMC team up on 64-bit chips and FinFET transistors
ARM and TSMC team up on 64-bit chips and FinFET transistors originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jul 2012 01:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 chipset is certainly hot (well, not too hot), but it looks like demand is expected to grow even further, causing the San Diego-based SoC maker to turn to allies in the east to help beef up supply. According to China Economic News Service, United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) and Korea-based Samsung will join Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to manufacturer the 28nm chips beginning later this year, in an attempt to increase S4 availability ahead of the Windows RT launch. The article cites Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs as saying that a shortage is expected to continue, due to the complicated techniques necessary to manufacturer 28nm chips, and that the company may consider adding its own manufacturing plant in the future. All in all, it doesn't seem like a terrible position for QCOM to be in. Full details are at the Taiwanese source link below.
Qualcomm enlists Samsung, UMC to help meet 28nm Snapdragon S4 demand originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Jul 2012 16:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We know TSMC's energy-miser 28-nanometer manufacturing process has a lot of headroom, but the company just ratcheted expectations up by a few notches. Lab workers at Taiwan's semiconductor giant have successfully run a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor at 3.1GHz under normal conditions. That's a 55 percent higher clock speed than the 2GHz maximum that TSMC normally offers, folks, and about twice as fast as a 40nm chip under the same workload. Don't expect that kind of clock speed from your next smartphone or tablet, though: expect processors of this caliber to find "high-performance uses," which takes us that much closer to NVIDIA's Project Denver as well as other ARM-based desktops, notebooks and servers that should give x86 chips a run for their money.
TSMC ramps 28nm ARM Cortex-A9 chip to 3.1GHz, gives your desktop jitters originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 May 2012 09:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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