GlobalFoundries 7nm and 10nm nodes to be developed in-house

Posted on Monday, September 21 2015 @ 11:58 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
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GlobalFoundries hopes its acquisition of IBM's microelectronics unit will enable it to leverage IBM's specialists and technology to develop its own 10nm and 7nm processes in-house, without licensing technologies from the outside like it did for its 14nm nodes. KitGuru points out that GlobalFoundries will be behind its rival with 10nm production technology but believes the future seems bright for the 7nm node.
“We are developing our own technologies for the next nodes,” said Sanjay Jha, chief executive officer of GlobalFoundries, in an interview with EETimes web-site. “The whole point of the IBM Microelectronics business acquisition is to leverage IBM’s technologists and technology to accelerate our own development of leading-edge process technologies.”

Mr. Jha does not reveal any timeframes concerning 10nm fabrication process and any kind of targets that the company wants to hit with the manufacturing technology. Keeping in mind that Samsung Electronics and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. plan to start production of chips using their 10nm processes in late 2016 or early 2017, it is obvious that GlobalFoundries will be behind its rivals. In a bid to start low-volume production using 10nm manufacturing tech in late 2016 or early 2017, GF needed to deliver early process design kits (PDKs) to its customers three to six months ago. The technology is in development and no PDKs are available to key clients like Advanced Micro Devices.


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Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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