14 DAY TRIAL // With mostly every foundry out there advancing to better manufacturing processes, it is not surprising to hear that TSMC is also moving on to a new node, and it seems that the next advancement will start to be put to use starting next year.
For any sort of chips, be they GPUs, DRAM, NAND or CPUs, a more advanced manufacturing process always spells new benefits.
Not only do more advanced nodes allow for better performance levels to be reached, but they also reduce the power requirements.
The physical size of every chip package can also be cut down, enabling a higher density in the case of DRAM and NAND chips.
As such, foundries have been gradually moving on to better manufacturing nodes for years, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is about to do it again.
Basically, TSMC will kick off mass-production of semiconductors based on the 28nm process starting in 2011, or so says a Digitimes report.
Currently, the 28nm equipment has reached a manufacturing readiness maturity level of 90% at TSM's Fab 12, located in the Hsinchu Science Park (HSP).
This actually implies fairly swift progress, considering that the maturity level was of under 50% at the start of the fourth quarter of 2009.
Among the clients TSMC has for the 28nm node are NVIDIA and Advanced Micro Devices, which plan to base their upcoming lines of GPUs on it.
The list of companies set to use the same technology also includes Qualcomm, Altera and Xilinx and may or may not increase, depending on what happens next year.
The world-class foundry has urged its suppliers of equipment and materials to also accelerate the research and development of the 20nm process.
Regardless of how quickly those plans progress, however, 28nm production capacity is expected to be fully utilized by the end of 2011.