Posted on Friday, April 05 2013 @ 11:26 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Taiwanese foundry TSMC says it's ahead of its own 20nm roadmap. The company will begin to install 20nm process manufacturing equipment later this month, around two months ahead of the company's own schedule. If all goes well, TSMC may be able to kick off commercial volume of 20nm chips late this year.
On April 20, TSMC, the world’s largest contract makers of semiconductors, will start to install new equipment that is needed to manufacture various chips using 20nm process technology into its new Fab 14/phase 5 facility, reports FocusTaiwan. The company has reportedly sent more than 100 engineers to equipment manufacturers in the United States, Europe and Japan to “conduct quality checks to make sure that its new plant can start operations in the new time frame”.
As it appears, the company decided to accelerate the launch of Fab 14/phase 5 by around two months so that to be able to produce chips on 20nm node in higher volumes already this year. Previously it was announced that TSMC's 20nm technology is scheduled to begin volume production at TSMC's Fab 12/phase 6 this year.
Full details
at X-bit Labs.
