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[Xbit] TSMC Has Started Volume 20nm Production Ahead of Schedule

O

OCGuy

Lifer
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest contract maker of chips, said on Thursday that it had initiated mass production of chips using 20nm process technology, about a month ahead of its plan. It is unknown which chips are now in production, but it is known that the new process technology will allow to make very complex SoCs with increased performance and low power consumption.
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http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/other/...n_of_Chips_Using_20nm_Process_Technology.html



Very exciting! I can't imagine anyone dropping > $400 on a high-end GPU at this point. I will stick to my prediction that "real" Maxwell will come about much sooner after February's re-branding than we have heard.

Bring on the new node!
 
Earlier TSMC indicated that the first five products to be made using 20nm fabrication process were designed for mobile computing, CPU and PLD [programmable logic device] industries.
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So likely the upcoming 750 ti...
 
1 month ahead of schedule means nothing as the usual forecast for 20nm GPUs was Q3. Take in mind that the article is talking about volume production, not mass production.
 
I thought 20nm GPUs weren't expected until the holiday season or 2015 because smart phone chip makers bought all the volume? This could help get GPUs released earlier
 
I have a link that is pretty positive regarding 20nm 🙂

Specifically on 20nm we have received five product tape-outs and scheduled more than 30 tape-outs in this year and next year from mobile computing, CPU and PLD [programmable logic device] segments. And all those tape-outs represent big volumes. Design ecosystem on 20nm has been validated in real products and is ready to support customers. Yield learning is in line or better than the 28nm path. We expect a fast ramp of 20nm next year, with revenue from 20nm in 2014 bigger than that of 28nm in 2012. You see 20nm will be starting next year whereas 28nm actually started in the fourth quarter – third, fourth quarter of 2011. So the corresponding point for 28nm was 2012. But our ramp in 20nm in 2014 is going to be faster than the ramp for 28nm in 2012. While our 28nm ramp was a record for TSMC, 20nm ramp will be even faster by about 30%,” said Mr. Chang.
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http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/other/..._Regarding_16nm_FinFET_and_20nm_Progress.html
 
OCGuy said:
Do you have a link handy? That seems quite vague.
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TSMC is not planning on opening up their 20 nm HKMG planar based lines until Q1/Q2 2014 with product being delivered in a Q3 timeframe.
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TSMC expects to be able to provide mass quantities of these parts by Q3 2014, but that is not entirely set in stone. My gut feeling here is that TSMC will be pretty close to that timeline and we would expect to see 20 nm GPUs hitting the market in around a year from now.
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http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Editorial/Next-Gen-Graphics-and-Process-Migration-20-nm-and-Beyond
 
Nobody is saying 20nm chips in February....only "Maxwell" 28nm low-end re-brands. But NV has had 20nm contracts with TSMC for around 3 years....they will get some of the initial capacity with Apple.
 
So likely the upcoming 750 ti...
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I'm pretty certain the 750ti isn't 20nm. It is 28nm and done, and it is based on the mobile focused GM117 chip. The GM117 is basically done as is the maxwell uarch, as there are already ultrabooks in production with the GM117 chip. Linus of NCIX tech tips previewed some MSI ultrabooks at CES just last week with the GM117, although he apparently wasn't allowed to say on video that it was the GM117.

Nvidia is starting from mobile going up with the Maxwell uarch, as Kepler was nvidia's most successful mobile product ever, by a mile. AMD did pretty well in desktop but as far as mobile sales, they just didn't compete meaningfully well compared to kepler. I don't know if that is why nvidia is starting from mobile and going up, but I suspect it is - and while GM117 was in production (i'm assuming) 20nm was still in the process of getting up and running at the time. But the point is, GM117 is done and is in production for mostly mobile, but it will also double as a desktop part in the 750ti. As it turns out, super efficient mobile ultrabook chips double up pretty well in the lower dGPU parts as well.

As someone else stated. I don't see why anyone WOULDN'T rally around 20nm. Initial forecasts put 20nm at 2H 2014, but if it comes sooner that is nothing but good things for anyone interested in our niche or mobile products in general.
 
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Nothing like a new node gpu launch, can't wait! Hopefully we'll see 290 performance for 200, at least when the sales start to kick in
 
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