ARM Shows First 32nm Cortex Processor
Just a week ago, Intel made waves by talking up its forthcoming 32
nanometer Westmere family of processors, and now ARM is vying for a
little bit of that 32nm attention with an all new Cortex. The company
has just announced the world's very first ARM processor produced on
32nm High-K Metal Gate (HKMG) process technology, and it will be
showing it off at this year's Mobile World Congress. Obviously, this
also marks the first-ever 32nm Cortex chip, and it has been built on a
test chip from the IBM Common Platform in its 32nm High-K metal gate
(HKMG) process.
In most regards, ARM's remaining fairly quiet on the specifics, only noting that the development required nine months of collaboration between ARM and the Common Platform. We're also told that the "successful test chip demonstrates that the critical technologies are proven and is an important stepping stone towards implementing the Cortex-A9 and future processors at advanced process nodes." Ian Drew, EVP Marketing at the company had this to say: "This silicon proof is a key step in our roadmap to demonstrate the technical synergy between leading ARM processors, ARM Physical IP and the Common Platform process technology that delivers best-in-class performance, lowest power consumption and rapid time-to-market. It also shows that we are fully committed to affording our Partners the earliest possible opportunity to deploy ARM technology, in particular the Cortex-A9 processor and future processors, on the 32/28nm process."
Speaking of time to market, ARM Partners will have access to the technology sometime later this year, though a full production release isn't scheduled until "early 2010." Maybe that explains the dearth of details, but regardless, we can at least expect the 32nm Cortex to be faster, cooler, more power efficient and more sophisticated than its older siblings.
In most regards, ARM's remaining fairly quiet on the specifics, only noting that the development required nine months of collaboration between ARM and the Common Platform. We're also told that the "successful test chip demonstrates that the critical technologies are proven and is an important stepping stone towards implementing the Cortex-A9 and future processors at advanced process nodes." Ian Drew, EVP Marketing at the company had this to say: "This silicon proof is a key step in our roadmap to demonstrate the technical synergy between leading ARM processors, ARM Physical IP and the Common Platform process technology that delivers best-in-class performance, lowest power consumption and rapid time-to-market. It also shows that we are fully committed to affording our Partners the earliest possible opportunity to deploy ARM technology, in particular the Cortex-A9 processor and future processors, on the 32/28nm process."
Speaking of time to market, ARM Partners will have access to the technology sometime later this year, though a full production release isn't scheduled until "early 2010." Maybe that explains the dearth of details, but regardless, we can at least expect the 32nm Cortex to be faster, cooler, more power efficient and more sophisticated than its older siblings.
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