TSMC

AMD’s big cache exposed at Hot Chips

AMD changed the rules when it introduced its chiplet packaging approach and demonstrated it could beat Amdahl’s Law and scale-up processors. At Hot Chips 2021, they revealed a bit more about their packaging magic, and their 3D V-Cache uses a novel new hybrid bonding technique. This manufacturing scheme can create up to an impressive 192 MB of L3 cache per … Read more

Better video on your phone due to Pixelworks

Pixelworks has been massaging and polishing pixels for over 22 years and they know a thing or two about what’s needed and how to accomplish optimized graphics display capabilities. The mobile space has some very specific challenges. The camera makers and display makers have gotten out of cadence in their developments resulting in different resolutions for 3-axis cameras and the … Read more

And then there were three—nanometers from TSMC

While Intel struggles to get the yield on 10 nm up to acceptable levels, TSMC, which is already shipping 7-nm parts to AMD, Qualcomm, and others, has built a 5-nm fab and is now getting a site ready for a 3-nm fab. Europeans consider hair with a diameter of 0.04 to 0.06 mm as thin, hair with a diameter between 0.06 and 0.08 mm … Read more

Xilinx — from chips to Socs, to AIBS

Xilinx held its annual Xilinx Developer’s Forum (XDF) in San Jose at the ritzy Fairmount hotel. The place was packed and rightly so because Xilinx had a lot to say. Best known for its FPGA, which its stuck in all kinds of systems and machines, the company has building a broad and deep infrastructure for the past three years beginning … Read more

How low can you go? TSMC goes for 5nm

TSMC first chipmaker to move to 5 nanometer process Legendary Morris Chang says TSMC will be the first with 5nm volume production. Chang is one of those guys says what he means and means what he says, so we have no doubt, TSMC will have 5nm. Morris Chang (張忠謀) photo Focus Taiwan   The chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. … Read more

Selling shovels

Legend has it the people making the most money during the California Gold Rush were the people selling equipment to the miners. The same holds true today for the companies selling the tools for crypto-currency. Certainly it’s a safer business.