Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it had taped out the first 20-nanometer (nm) processor for UK semiconductor intellectual property company ARM, paving the way for the world’s top contract chipmaker to start mass production of chips using this technology in September next year.
Tape-out is the final process in the chip design cycle before a chip is sent out for manufacturing.
With this development, TSMC has again extended its technological lead, with 20nm being the most advanced process technology available now.
Last month, TSMC vice president Chiang Shang-yi (蔣尚義) told a seminar that the company would start test production of 20nm process technology.
ARM’s new 20nm Cortex-A15 chips would be ideal for a wide variety of end products from smartphones, tablets and mobile computing to high-end digital homes, servers and wireless infrastructure, TSMC said.
The new processor provides a more than twofold performance increase over preceding generations, the Hsinchu-based chipmaker said in a statement.
ARM-based processors are used in various mobile devices — including Apple Inc’s iPhone and iPad. ARM is forecast to seize more than 80 percent of the global tablet market in 2015, market researcher Gartner Inc said.
TSMC has also outpaced rivals — including South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co — in developing 28nm technology. The Taiwanese firm is set to ship small volumes of 28nm processors this quarter — three quarters earlier than Samsung, which is scheduled to ramp up production in the third quarter of next year.
In July, TSMC said chips using 28nm technology would account for 1 percent of its total revenues this quarter, down from its initial estimate of 2 to 3 percent because of reduced demand due to an industry slump.
Gartner forecast that 28nm technology would contribute up to 4 percent of contract chipmakers’ revenues next year.
Earlier this month, United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 2 contract chipmaker, said it had signed a long-term agreement with ARM, allowing UMC to provide its clients with access to the latest advanced ARM solutions validated on UMC’s 28nm technology.
UMC is scheduled to start test production of its 28nm process technology in the middle of next year.
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