TSMC started with volume production of circuits in 28 nanometers

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is starting production of circuits in 28 nanometers, a shrinkage from today’s 40 nm. The new manufacturing process includes High Performance (28HP), High Performance Low Power (28HPL), Low Power (28LP) and High Performance Mobile Computing (28HPM). All but the latter, which are delayed until the turn of the year, are now ready for volume production.

Being the first to 28nm volume production demonstrates TSMC’s leadership in technology and brings great value to our customers through design wins with competitive products

Among the customers are first and foremost AMD and Nvidia, which enlist the help of TSMC to manufacture the next generation of graphics processors. According to previous information, AMD will launch the first models in the Southern Islands family at the turn of the year, while Nvidia Kepler will be delayed a bit into 2012. First and foremost, however, these are scaled-down models for primarily laptops.

According to TSMC, customers have already developed 80 tape-outs (circuit templates) for the new manufacturing process. At the same time, the yield, ie the proportion of “faultless” circuits out of production, is said to be better than the previous generation (40 nm) at the same time in the development.