AMD and Nvidia go to TSMC for 16 nanometer FinFET

Neither AMD nor Nvidia seem particularly interested in going from 28 to 20 nanometer manufacturing technology without waiting for the next production technology breakthrough. Next in line is probably 16 nanometers with Nvidia Pascal and AMD Arctic Islands, where at least the green team plans to introduce new graphics processors in early 2016.

Now the Taiwanese industry magazine Digitimes reports that TSMC has entered into agreements with a number of customers to produce 16-nanometer circuits with FinFET technology, also known as 3D transistors or the equivalent of the Intel Tri-gate.

AMD and Nvidia will be joined by Avago, Broadcom, Hi Silicon Technologies, LG Electronics, Mediatek and Xilinx, but the semiconductor giant’s real crown jewel is Apple and the processor A9, which among other things is expected to appear in the upcoming “Iphone 6s”.

During the summer, TSMC began the initial volume production of circuits with 16 nanometer technology. In the fourth quarter of the year, full-scale mass production will be up and running, which means that at least there are no production technical obstacles to launching new graphics processors shortly after the turn of the year.