http://liliputing.com/2015/04/arms-plans-for-10nm-chips-may-have-just-leaked....ARM’s plans for 10nm chips OK, what is new --- Ares, Prometheus, Artemis, Ananke and Mercury
5 levels of mix and match performance at four different levels of lithography --Flexibility, speed and affordability -- ongoing. all talking to the same enlarged fast buss and scheduling softwares combined with the 880 series and above Mali graphics.
Flexibility, speed and affordability -- ongoing.We also know that the new LAPTOP strong Ares Cortex A72 can supposedly run on 20nm lithography, 16nm lithography, 14nm lithography and 10nm lithography --- this flexibility gives a tremendous range of implementation depending on whose process you are stuck with using early on.
For example, Mediatek likes low cost -- so they will likely stay stuck on the plain jane 20nm planar lithography for just as long as they can make it work out well for them. A72 cores running on 20nm just run the costs lower and lower as the months go by until FinFET finally becomes fully cost competitive at a lower lithography level. Between times, Mediatek can kick some Intel butt starting later on this summer with this plan -- and they fully intend to.
ARM seems to move on a two year total life cycle, with older chipsets hanging on at larger lithography levels to make up the low end of things.
ARM is also stretching out to INTENTIONALLY cover 10, 14, 16, and 20nm 64 bit lithography levels -- this is what has actually happened in the past with ARM chipset makers, but this is the first time ARM HAS ACTUALLY BUILT THE FLEXIBILITY RIGHT IN FROM THE GET-GO, RIGHT INTO THE BASIC DESIGN. Look to see Qualcomm and Samsung at 14nm for the rest of this year switching to 10nm as soon as Apple's production requirements for next year are met (in late spring, just like this year most likely).
Look to see everybody else sticking with what TSMC can do, which is 20nm and 16nm for this year (and those older designs will still come off at 28nm for another year at least for the low end stuff)
Look to see ARM chip producers customizing chips that
change lithography levels inside the chip freely as cost and circumstances dictate. Example, an already approved 20nm LTE World Modem can do shared duty on lower and lower lithography chipsets until the awkward very long radio approval process can approve a 14 or 10 nm version.
Next -- expect ARM vendors to intentionally hang back at known cost efficient lithography levels until they
need to move down,
need to move down strongly enough to make it worth while to them that is.
Intel panic drove itself to FinFET before it even needed to at 22nm and then they busted themselves to go all the way down to 14nm pretty much knowing it wasn't ready for a VERY complicated CISC processor like theirs -- the thermal throttling issues Intel is having now are just part in parcel of some very bad decisions made early on, over 3 years ago as a matter of fact.
Now, Intel isn't ready to go to 10nm and it will take them years to dig out at 14nm and make that 10nm move. Or they can go jump the gun again and dig their trouble hole deeper accordingly.
Samsung and Apple have trial production run their 10nm process already and whole lot sized runs of sample RISC A-10 chipsets have already been produced and tested. Second sampling is going on and a re-tuning of OS and A-10 chipset is in motion as we speak. Sample runs of an A-11 laptop chipset have also been run, just in case Intel really can't straighten up in time for a GOOD 14nm product for Skylake later on this summer.
Since Apple can fix an issue from both ends (or either end) they tend to do just that -- and this careful tuning of OS and hardware is so so very much of what makes an Apple product work as well as it does.
Remember, Apple is not happy with Intel right now --- and the Apple Rumor Mill is
expecting some sort of laptop RISC chipset product to be Apple's low cost leader laptop for next year.
Apple just sliced off 10% of MS's laptop business just by lowering their price a hundred dollars or so -- what could they do if they sliced off $300 ????
..... OK Google, the ARM side is out there now, what are you going to put forth for an Android/Chrome/Ubuntu fusion to run on it and make it all work out seamlessly on those new more powerful RISC based LAPTOPS ???
We know Apple has a RISC laptop OS already developed, but do you?
Please, tell us we aren't "waiting on MS to do it" ......