Samsungs 14nm Bobba-Fet, eh, FinFET has been making a lot of noise lately, with the company aggressively trying to poach customers from TSMC. It is with this context that one of the most important question arises: could AMDs next generation x86 Zen Architecture be based on Samsungs node? I have to admit, the thought is very, very intriguing. Hypothetically speaking if AMD were to use Samsungs node, and if (that is an insanely huge if) Samsung could deliver, then it just might be able to enter the CPU scene against Intel once more, giving the world the competition it deserves.
A little recap on Zen might be in order I think. No matter which way you put it, Bulldozer was somewhat of a disappointment. Various reasons explaining away the problem exist; ranging from bad architecture design to the choice of CMT over SMT to harsh accusations of lack of R&D. Whatever the case actually is, Intel has had a free run for far too long, and if there is one thing that is bad for the consumers, it is a monopoly. AMDs Next Generation Zen architecture is x86 sibling of K12 and vows to give AMD its say back in the compute sector.
We first heard confirmation about Zen at the Deustche Bank 2014 Technology Conference, where Rory Red confirmed that the core was in fact an x86 variant and not an ARM one. Rory also admitted that Bulldozer wasnt the game changer they had thought it to be, but Zen is poised to change all that. Some of you might recall a piece I did a few months back which stated that AMD would be moving back to the traditional SMT based approach in Multi Threading; well, Zen seems to be it. Personally, I cant wait to see AMD back in the game (CPU-side) because Zen is looking very nice indeed.
Read more: http://wccftech.com/samsung-14nm-process-candidate-amd-zen-architecture/#ixzz3FE5Xmomb
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