Taiwanese foundry TSMC has 'taped out' production of ARMs 64-bit Cortex-A57 using a 16-nanometre process. Taping out is the final stage before fabrication and mass production.
The microprocessors could mount a growing challenge to Intel in its core markets as demand for high-performance, low-power-consumption chip architectures in both PCs and servers increases. The two companies claimed that they ramped the chip from design to tape out in just six months.
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The work forms part of plans to optimise ARM's 64-bit v8 architecture for TSMC's FinFET transistor technology. FinFET is intended to help boost frequencies - ie: chip speeds - while keeping power consumption low. The FinFET architecture is similar to the tri-gate transistor technology that Intel incorporated into its recent Ivy Bridge-series of x86 compatible microprocessors.
TSMC has invested heavily in producing ARM-architecture microprocessors - principally for smartphones and tablets, but with an eye on more lucrative computing sectors. In October 2011, TSMC taped out the first 20-nanometre multicore ARM Cortex-A15 based on TSMC's Open Innovation Platform.
The news indicates that ARM and its partners are on track to produce the first 64-bit v8 microprocessors this year, expected from Applied Micro. Early next year it will be joined in the market with products from AMD, Nvidia, Cavium and others. ARM also has a foundry agreement with Global Technologies.
Intel is currently producing its Ivy Bridge x86-compatible microprocessors using 22-nanometer process technologies. It will also produce its forthcoming Ivy Bridge range of chips and its next generation Haswell microprocessors later this year using 22-nanometer processes, before shifting to 14-nanometre processes for Broadwell and Skylake from about 2015.
It has already started to incorporate 3D transistors using its Tri-Gate design, which debuted with the Ivy Bridge-series 22 nanometer process microprocessors for laptop and desktop PCs.
