Items tagged with TSMC
GlobalFoundries rocked the tech industry yesterday when it announced that it had filed multiple lawsuits in the United States and in Germany alleging patent infringement abuses by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and its partners/customers. At the heart of the lawsuits are 16 patents covering 28nm, 16nm, 12nm, 10nm, and 7nm product lines. “For years, while we have been devoting billions of dollars to domestic research and development, TSMC has been unlawfully reaping the benefits of our investments," wrote GlobalFoundries SVP Gregg Barlett in a statement yesterday. "This action is critical to halt Taiwan Semiconductor’s unlawful use of our vital assets and...
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It looks like we have another patent fight brewing in the tech world, and this time the battle is between Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and GlobalFoundries. The latter has filed multiple lawsuits against the former, alleging infringement on 16 patents. GlobalFoundries filed the lawsuits with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and with the Regional Court of Dusseldorf in Germany. The reason why this particular legal showdown is so significant is because TSMC manufactures a wide range of chips covering a large segment of tech products on the market. For example, TSMC manufacturers GPU for NVIDIA (ala the GeForce RTX/RTX Super) and Qualcomm's family of dominant...
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If you own an Android phone, there is a high chance it is rocking a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor of some kind inside. Sometime in the not-too-distant future, Qualcomm will unleash a new flagship SoC, the Snapdragon 865, yet there is already talk of what comes after. That would be the Snapdragon 875, assuming Qualcomm sticks to its conventional naming scheme. Based on a recent leak, the Snapdragon 865 is shaping up to be a worthy successor to the current-generation Snapdragon 855 (and 855 Plus). Codename "Kona," a recent entry in Geekbench's database shows the Snapdragon 865 benefiting from a healthy boost in single-threaded performance, and posting gains in multi-threaded workloads. According...
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TSMC generated $7.75 billion in revenue during the second quarter of 2019, which is down 1.4 percent year-over-year but up 9.2 percent from the previous quarter. In a subsequent conference call with investors, TSMC talked about powering through softening economic conditions, and what the future holds in regards to 5-nanometer (nm) and 3nm process nodes. Referred to by TSMC as N5 and N3, the company is currently busy churning out N7 (or 7nm) silicon, as featured in AMD's third-generation Ryzen processors. AMD has also moved to a 7nm node for its newest generation Navi GPUs and is doing rather well for itself, with a gigantic assist from TSMC on the manufacturing front. Looking ahead, TSMC anticipates...
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TSMC has been a long-time partner for Apple in producing its A-Series SoCs that go in everything from the iPhone to the iPad to the HomePod smart speaker. A new report claims that Apple's next-generation SoC, the A13, is currently under production, with TSMC once again leading the charge. 2019 iPhone XS Max Mockup Early test chips reportedly entered production in April according to Bloomberg, while full-scale mass production is expected to kick off in June. Production will ramp quickly from there to ensure the Apple has enough supply to fuel a likely late September launch for the 2019 lineup of iPhones and new iPad Pro models. At this point, it's likely that TSMC will still be using a 7-nanometer...
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In just a few weeks, AMD is expected to roll out its new Ryzen 3000 series of CPUs based on its Zen 2 architecture. These new parts are being built by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) on a 7-nanometer node. Looking ahead, however, TSMC is already talking about 6nm and even 5nm, the latter of which will bring improved logic density by 1.8X over 7nm, the company says. TSMC talked a little bit about its 5nm manufacturing process during a recent earnings call with investors. The company said its 5nm development is "well on track," having entered a phase called "risk production" in the first quarter. It expects a "tape out" in the first half of 2020. That is when designs by clients...
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AMD is on the cusp of releasing a new generation of Ryzen processors based on its 7-nanometer Zen 2 architecture, and from everything we have heard to this point, it is going to be an exciting launch. Looking beyond Zen 2, however, is where things may get truly interesting, as AMD's Zen 3 architecture transitions to a 7nm+ extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) manufacturing process. Each new generation should bring a jump in IPC (instructions per clock) performance and better power efficiency, and we certainly expect that to be the case with Zen 2, and later Zen 3. What's interesting about Zen 3, though, is it will be the first semiconductor design to incorporate Taiwain Semiconductor Manufacturing...
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Apple's push for new iPhone models comes as consumers are staying away from new devices and holding onto old phones for longer. The extended upgrade cycle is in part Apple's own doing due to the battery replacement program it was running and the high retail prices of its devices. Rumors have circulated that suggest Apple plans to launch three new iPhone models in 2019, which will hopefully turn around the sales slide. Reports have surfaced that claim Apple will continue to exclusively use TSMC to build the new A13 chips used in iPhone models. TSMC will build the A13 chips using its 7nm process according to the report. TSMC is also building AMD's Zen 2 CPUs and 7nm Vega 20 GPUs. Volume production...
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AMD is going all-in on 7-nanometer manufacturing for both its CPUs and GPUs, and it doesn't look like the company will have to worry about low inventories. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has reportedly seen a reduction in 7nm orders from Apple, HiSilicon, and Qualcomm, and subsequently will not be operating at full capacity on its 7nm assembly lines. Looking ahead, AMD has its Zen 2 processor and Navi GPU architectures around the bend, both of which are being built on a 7nm manufacturing process. It's important to note that AMD does not build the actual chips—it's a fabless outfit that designs the silicon, and then has companies like TSMC and GlobalFoundries produce the...
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Watch out, Qualcomm; Huawei is knocking at your door. The Chinese tech giant has just announced its next-generation SoC that will power its upcoming flagship smartphone family in late 2018 and beyond. The Kirin 980 is the successor to the Kirin 970 and is the very first commercial 7nm chip that is being manufactured by TSMC. Due to the process shrink from 10nm to 7nm, Huawei is boasting unparalleled levels of performance and efficiency. The Kirin 980 crams in 6.9 billion transistors in a 1cm2die and promises a 20 percent improvement in power efficiency. Considering that we all crave the best performance possible out of our mobile devices, you'll also be happy to know that Huawei boosted...
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AMD made two big announcements after the closing bell today that affects its hardware business. There is some executive shuffling on the personnel side, and some changes with regards to 7nm production. On the personnel side, Jim Anderson, who served as AMD's General Manager and Senior Vice President of Global Computing and Graphics Sales, is leaving the company effective September 4th. Anderson decided to leave his post to take a position as President and CEO of Lattice Semiconductor. This is quite the move up the corporate latter for Anderson, who will also serve on the company's board of directors. "Jim brings a strong combination of business and technical leadership with a deep understanding...
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Whoever oversees IT for TSMC's factories is probably in hot water right now. The company suffered from a major virus attack recently that forced it to shut down some of its factories. TSMC has now stepped up and admitted that while the cause of the shutdowns was a virus infection, the ultimate cause of that infection was unpatched Windows systems. Initially, TSMC was vague about the exact cause only admitting that the issue was an unspecified computer virus. TSMC has stated that the specific virus that infected its systems leading to the shutdown was WannaCry, which has previously been linked to North Korea. The WannaCry outbreak that caused the factories to shut down affected unpatched Windows...
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Tawian Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is recovering from a major internal computer virus outbreak that ravaged its systems, forcing the chipmaker to shut down several factories. A full recovery is expected by Monday, August 6, however the fallout from the virus will result in shipment delays and additional costs, the company said. The virus affected TSMC's computer systems and fabrication tools in Taiwan. TSMC attributed the outbreak to a some sort of misoperation when installing software for a new tool, though the company did not go into specifics. Once the virus tool went online, it spread throughout TSMC's computer network, affecting other systems. "Data integrity and confidential...
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Things are looking up for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) after the company posted a decline in revenue for its quarter ending in June. TSMC is now predicting significant increases in revenue moving through the third and fourth quarters of 2018. The gain in revenue is, according to industry sources, thanks to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 11 Series GPU and Apple's A12 SoC. Apple is rolling out three new iPhones in September, according to rumors, that will all use the A12 SoC that TSMC builds on its 7nm process technology. NVIDIA is also tapping TSMC for its GeForce GTX 11 GPU tech to leverage TSMC's 7nm process. The 7nm process technology that TSMC has is in such high demand that...
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