Judging by TSMC's track record mas production should take a while

Oct 18, 2011 12:08 GMT  ·  By

ARM and TSMC has announced just earlier today that the two companies have taped out the first multicore chip based on the formers Cortex-A15 architecture and TSMCs advanced 20nm process node.

The two completed the implementation, from RTL to tape out, in six months using TSMC's Open Innovation Platform (OIP) 20nm design ecosystem and ARM will continue to optimize its IP for TSMC's advanced node.

According to the two companies, the 20nm process developed by the Taiwanese foundry provides more than a twofold performance increase over preceding generations.

"This first 20nm ARM Cortex-A15 tape out paves the way for the next generation of SoC integration and performance," said Mike Inglis, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Processor Division, ARM.

“The combination of TSMC technology, the latest ARM Cortex-A15 processor and Artisan physical IP will help meet the increasing demand for high performance, energy-efficient consumer devices," continued ARM's rep.

In electronics design, the “tape out” term is used to describe the final result of the design cycle of a chip and means that the integrated circuit can be sent to the foundry for manufacturing the first physical samples.

These will then go through a number of spins as the design is further refined to eliminate any potential flaws that made their way into the integrated circuit.

This is usually quite a lengthy process and none of the two companies mentioned when the final design of this processor will be ready for mass production.

TSMC's track record with the 40nm and 28nm fabrication processes however leads us to believe that it will definitely take a while until the foundry gets its 20nm node on-track and ready for releasing retail parts of these chips.

ARM's Cortex-A15 processors are expected to make their way into a wide series of low-power devices, including smartphones, tablets, mobile computers, and high-end digital home servers, to name just a few.