Intel's tick-tock trick on track for 32nm in '09

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 10 December 2008 11:10

Your IT - Home IT

Intel has completed the development of its 32nm chip technology, and expects it to go into production during the fourth quarter of 2009. The new process should usher in higher performing and more energy efficient chips.

Intel's "tick-tock" strategy calls for the introduction of new processor architectures and manufacturing processes in alternate years.

Late 2008 saw the arrival of the Nehalem/Core i7 architecture, so the company needs to begin the switch from 45nm to 32nm technology by the end of 2009 to stay on track.

If the company meets that production it will be the fourth year that it has maintained the tick-tock cadence.

Intel claims its manufacturing process has the highest transistor performance and the highest transistor density of any reported 32nm technology in the industry.

"Our manufacturing prowess and resulting products have helped us widen our lead in computing performance and battery life for Intel-based laptops, servers and desktops," said Mark Bohr, Intel senior fellow and director of process architecture and integration.

"As we’ve shown this year, the manufacturing strategy and execution have also given us the ability to create entirely new product lines for MIDs [mobile Internet devices], CE [consumer electronics] equipment, embedded computers and netbooks."

Intel's 32nm process will be described at the International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) in San Francisco next week. TSMC and IBM will also be describing their 32mn processes, while AMD and IBM will jointly present a 22nm memory chip.