ARM Extends Hand to Globalfoundries to Produce Chips Using 20nm Node Process

Posted 08/13/2012 at 8:49am | by Paul Lilly

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Globalfoundries and ARM have inked a multi-year agreement to jointly develop optimized system-on-chip (SoC) solutions using 20-nanometer and FinFET process technologies, the two company's announced today. The new agreement is really an extension of a long-standing collaboration between these two firms, and it also includes work on graphics processors, which are becoming ever more important in the mobile space.

The two companies have been working for years tweaking ARM's Cortex A series of processors for higher performance and improved power efficiency. This new agreement extends those prior efforts as the two sides focus heavily on 20nm chips and three-dimensional FinFET transistor technology. According to ARM and Globalfoundries, the joint development will result in next generation SoC solutions reaching the market faster than would otherwise be possible.

"This early engagement promotes the rapid adoption of ARM and Globalfoundries technologies in future SoCs for several important markets," said Simon Segars, executive vice president and general manager, Processor and Physical IP Divisions at ARM. "Customers designing for mobile, tablet and computing applications will benefit extensively from the energy-efficient ARM processor and graphics processor included in this collaboration. By proactively working together to enable next-generation 20nm-LPM and FinFET process technologies, our mutual customers can be assured a range of implementation options that will enable two more generations of advanced semiconductor devices."

The technology this partnership is based on will ultimately manifest itself in next generation tablet and smartphone devices, as well as other mobile applications. It will also apply pressure to TSMC and Intel to stay on top of their respective games.

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