IBM semiconductor alliance targets 32nm for metal gate fabrication

32nm is good news, IBM and Chartered Semi have been working together on process technology since 2002, when they collaborated on the 90nm transition. Samsung came on board in 2004, and now the three companies form the core of an extended alliance that includes Infineon, Freescale, and AMD.




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cpuFrequenz

 

The significant (projected) improvements going from 45nm to 32nm HKMG might in part come from the transition from a 45nm that is "not too special" to a 32nm that "finally has what Intel had going on for years".

The upshot to this is that TSMC's 40nm process, in comparison to the supposed top dogs in the process race, might turn out to be "oddly competitive", given that outside of Intel the pace is slackening significantly.

As much as AMD likes to state the idea of having 45nm HKMG, I think we better see if they still exist when they hit 45nm non-HKMG, let alone 45nm HKMG or the distant 32nm horizon.

Then again, AMD might have to fall back on 45nm HKMG because it doesn't plan to transition to 32nm for quite some time after IBM and friends do. Once again, this is prefaced with the assumption that even AMD thinks it will be around (or will exist as chip designer that will even be creating high-performance CPUs) by that point.