14 DAY TRIAL // GlobalFoundries has today announced that the company has reached an important milestone as it managed to develop a 28nm dual-core Cortex A9 test chip that is built using the company’s 28nm HPP (High Performance Plus) process.
The test chip demoed by the foundry is running at 2.5GHz based on the wafers produced at the Fab 1 in Dresden, Germany, but it should be able to reach higher frequencies once it moves to the 28nm High Performance Plus (HPP) fabrication technology.
Even though GloFlo hasn’t provided us with a time frame regarding this transition, the foundry did state that such a chip is expected to feature extremely low active power and an operating point of just 0.85V.
As AnandTech points out, this voltage target is pretty good for a Cortex A9 implementation running at more than 2.5GHz, so GloFlo could have a winner on its hands if it can deliver.
“Today’s announcement is a clear demonstration that the TQV strategy developed with ARM is paying dividends in our 32/28nm HKMG technology by delivering impressive performance and energy-efficiency,” said Mojy Chian, senior vice president of design enablement, Globalfoundries.
Many more companies are expected to release 28nm ARM system-on-a-chip (SoC) devices running at frequencies above 2GHz in 2012.
These implementations will be used in tablets and netbook replacements, including many Windows 8 on ARM devices, so it’s rather important for GlobalFoundries to have the technology required for building such chips.
While this is certainly an interesting development, GloFlo hasn’t mentioned if its 28nm high performance technology is fully functional or if leakage is low enough so that it will be sustainable in the long run.
The foundry also hasn’t said when it will be ready to start mass producing ARM SoC devices based on the 28nm high performance technology.
