TSMC 20nm + AMD Struggling + ARM in Taiwan

choi

David Manners, ARM, TSMC Moving Fast To 20nm. Electronics Weekly, Nov 21, 2011 (blog)
http://www.electronicsweekly.com ... g-fast-to-20nm.html
(ARM's executive vp for marketing, Lance Howarth says, "people think TSMC are responding well in respect to 20nm and don't think Intel are as advanced in 20nm compared to TSMC")

My comment:
(a) After Intel announced 3D early this year, I heard in the web grapevine twice (on the heels of Intel's announcement, and several months later, including a Taiwanese official coming out to vouch for it) that TCMC might actually give Intel a run for the money, beating Intel to the finish line. The report today may validate those whispers.
(b) Acronym:
(i) RTL: register-transfer level
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Register-transfer_level
(ii) PIPD: Physical Intellectual Property Division, ARM Holdings PLC
(iii) SOI: silicon on insulator

(2) Steve Johnson, AMD Struggling to Reinvent Itself. San Jose Mercury News, Nov 20, 2011.
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_19358655?source=rss

Quote:

"AMD executives had hoped the [antitrust] legal actions would help them grab a bigger piece of the PC microprocessor business. But the opposite has happened. In 2006, AMD owned 23 percent of the market, while Intel controlled 75 percent, according to research firm IDC. Since then, AMD's share has slid to around 19 percent, while Intel's has grown to 80 percent.

"AMD's failure to get its chips into smartphones and tablets reportedly was behind its board's decision in January this year to oust CEO Dirk Meyer, who had been in the job since 2008, and to replace him in August with Rory Read, former CEO of PC and tablet maker Lenovo.

"Meanwhile, AMD's woes have continued. In September it cut its revenue and profit forecast after having fewer of its top chips to sell because of manufacturing glitches at a German GlobalFoundries plant.

(3) Aaron Lee and Jessie Shen, ARM Builds New R&D Center in Taiwan. Digitimes, Nov 18, 2011.