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IBM Beats The Rest of the World To 7nm Chips, But You'll Need to Wait For Them
Mickeycaskill writes: IBM's research division has successfully produced test chips containing 7nm transistors, potentially paving the way for slimmer, more powerful devices. The advance was made possible by using silicon-germanium instead of pure silicon in key regions of the molecular-size switches, making transistor switching faster and meaning the chips need less power. Most current smartphones use processors containing 14nm technology, with Qualcomm, Nvidia and MediaTek looking for ways to create slimmer chips. However, despite its evident pride, IBM is not saying when the 7nm technology will become commercially available. Also at ComputerWorld and The Register.
Yeah because IBM sold their FAB so they don't know when anybody will produce chips based on this 7nm technology. They'll be happy to license it to chip manufacturers, they just won't produce it themselves.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
Most likely not.
The CPU/GPU is not the bottleneck anymore. The screen and wireless consume more power. The sad truth is, everything else has advanced, but battery technology is still in the last decade.
Given the challenges Intel faced with yields at 14nm.... and indication they face the same challenges with 10nm, evidenced by the push back to 2017 for the technology - I'm pretty goddamned skeptical that IBM has "beat" anyone to anything. Could I go to an Intel laboratory today and see a proof-of-concept 7nm chip? 5nm? Probably using all manner of interesting silicon replacements? I bet that I could.
No, as you can see from the market today, this is merely an attempt by IBM to resurrect their flagging stock prices (which has worked).