CPU

GlobalFoundries this week said that the U.S. authorities had approved its acquisition of IBM’s microelectronics business unit. From now on, GlobalFoundries will make various important semiconductors for the U.S. military and government agencies. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has reviewed the proposed transaction between IBM and …

Despite of pressure from investors, Qualcomm has no plans to split the company up and spin off chip business to concentrate on lucrative technology development and licensing, according to the chairman of the company. Qualcomm is not only the world’s biggest supplier of application processors for mobile devices, but is …

Advanced Micro Devices is experiencing difficult times because of business decisions made several years ago. At this point AMD is developing its “Zen” and “K12” microprocessors, which are expected to make AMD competitive in the CPU market again. However, many new technologies, which are in the works today, will have an impact …

In a bid to revive its chip design operations, Microsoft Corp. may acquire Advanced Micro Devices, according to a source familiar with the matter. The software giant approached AMD several months ago, the source indicated. The result of the talks is unclear. Microsoft Corp. has been selling game consoles for …

Intel Corp. has quietly introduced its highest-performing x86 server microprocessor to date. The chip features a number of unique capabilities, such as on-the-fly reconfiguration of core-count and frequency, and is currently available to Oracle and its server customers. The Intel Xeon E7-8895 v3 “Haswell-EX” central processing unit features 18 cores …

PCI Express bus has been evolving for over ten years now. So far the technology has tripled its initial data rate, but the next step is taking a longer time. PCI SIG claims that the fourth generation PCI Express specification will be finalized in 2017 and will materialize this decade. The …

Advanced Micro Devices’ next-generation “Zen” micro-architecture promises to significantly increase performance of the company’s central processing units next year. Even though AMD will introduce high-end microprocessors based on “Zen” in 2016, it will take a long time before a significant share of AMD’s chips will adopt its new architecture. AM4 …

Intel Corp. has again delayed installation of equipment necessary to produce semiconductors in high volume using 10nm process technology. It is believed that Intel experiences yield ramp issues, just like in case of its 14nm manufacturing tech, which is why it does not make sense for the company to buy …

Advanced Micro Devices will release microprocessors based on “Zen” cores only for high-end desktop computers next year. Mainstream PCs will get the company’s new micro-architecture in 2017, when the company rolls-out its “Raven Ridge” accelerated processing units, according to a media report. Next year AMD will offer its “Bristol Ridge” …

United Microelectronics Corp. said on Tuesday that it has successfully taped out a test chip from ARM using its 14nm FinFET fabrication technology. The company also revealed that the new manufacturing process will be ready for customer tape outs by the end of the year. UMC and ARM recently taped …

Intel Corp. has changed its roadmap once again and delayed its code-named “Cannonlake” processors to an unknown date. Next year the company will introduce “Kaby Lake” processors made using 14nm FinFET process technology. Intel’s “Kaby Lake” processors will feature two or four cores, a new generation integrated graphics engine, a …

Modern FinFET process technologies help to reduce power consumption of modern chips while increasing their clock-rate potential. Unfortunately, it is extremely expensive to design FinFET chips, which is why many chip developers cannot afford creation of new solutions. In a bid to help such companies to release new chips, GlobalFoundries …

Intel Corp. is working on a brand-new server platform code-named “Purley”, which will include Xeon microprocessors based on the “Skylake” micro-architecture with up to 28 cores and will feature a number of platform-level innovations. The new multi-core chips will not only sport extraordinary amount of cores and new features, but …

Chief executive officer of Advanced Micro Devices has ordered a research to review possibilities of splitting the company in two or spinning off a multimedia chip business unit, a media report claims. The company is mulling different options, as it desperately wants to become competitive against Intel. AMD itself denies …

Intel Corp. will officially unveil its next-generation mainstream microprocessors for enthusiasts in early August at the Gamescom trade-show. The introduction of the code-named “Skylake-S” microprocessors at a games conference will emphasize that the new chips are designed primarily for systems used to play video games. Intel intends to formally unveil …

Although Intel Corp.’s upcoming Core i7-6700K “Skylake-S” chip will likely become overclockers’ new darling, it looks like it will have the same drawback as currently available mainstream microprocessors with unlocked multiplier: inefficient internal thermal interface. As reported, Intel Corp. started to ship production ready full-speed engineering samples of its next-generation …

Advanced Micro Devices will not use its next-generation high-performance “Zen” micro-architecture for its accelerated processing units next year, if excerpts from an alleged AMD presentation published by a web-site are to be believed. While the slides reveal AMD’s intentions, they do not answer all the questions about the forthcoming chip. …

While Advanced Micro Devices’ next-generation micro-architecture known as “Zen” looks very impressive on paper, it will not hit the market any time soon. In fact, AMD plans to release the first microprocessors featuring the new cores only in late 2016, according to a document published by a web-site. AMD’s first …

Advanced Micro Devices has not updated its server and high-end desktop microprocessors for well over two years now, which is why market shares of AMD Opteron and AMD FX central processing units are negligible. However, a lot may change next year, when AMD roll-out its next-generation CPUs based on its …

Many analysts now believe that Advanced Micro Devices may never recover from its current problems and will inevitably sink. While everything may happen in this industry, it is unlikely that companies of AMD’s size can vanish into oblivion. An analyst believes that Xilinx, a maker of field-programmable gate arrays, may …

Intel Corp. is working on its next-generation low-cost microprocessors for desktop and laptop computers. Code-named “Apollo Lake”, the new central processing units will be based on a new micro-architecture and will feature an all-new graphics processing unit. Intel’s upcoming “Apollo Lake” processors will be powered by the company’s next-generation micro-architecture …

Advanced Micro Devices has been slashing its research and development budgets for a number of quarters in a row now due to decreasing revenues. With limited R&D resources, AMD has to prioritize its spendings. According to chief executive officer of AMD, at present the company spends most of its R&D …

UPDATE: Correcting comments regarding Matt Skynner. Advanced Micro Devices on Monday appointed Jim Anderson on the position of senior vice president and general manager of its computing and graphics (CG) business group. Jim Anderson is a veteran from Intel Corp., LSI and Avago Technologies. Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and …

Intel Corp.’s code-named “Skylake” microprocessors will hit the market only in August or September and right now the world’s largest maker of microprocessors is getting ready for the launch. Intel is currently sampling “Skylake” chips with PC manufacturers and at Computex Taipei 2015 Asustek Computer has demonstrated a system powered …

Advanced Micro Devices on Thursday formally introduced new accelerated processing units for desktop computers based on the “Kaveri” architecture. The new chips belong to the A10/A8-series 7000-sequence family and have slightly increased performance compared to APUs introduced a year ago. While the new chips have exactly the same design as …

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has announced that it will start to install equipment needed to produce 10nm chips in one of its semiconductor fabrication facilities next month. The company hopes to start risk production of 10nm chips late this year. TSMC will start to construct its 10nm pilot line at …

A web-site has published what it claims to be early benchmark results of Intel Corp.’s Core i7-6700K microprocessor based on the “Skylake” micro-architecture. If the results are accurate, then the new chips will be at least four to eight per cent faster than the current mainstream processors with unlocked multiplier. …

Qualcomm Technologies has reportedly signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Chinese government under which it will develop server-class microprocessors. The chips will eventually be used inside Chinese servers, which will ensure a steady revenue stream for Qualcomm. Under the terms of the document signed by Qualcomm and the authorities, …

Intel Corp. will likely start making central processing units using 10nm fabrication process next year, but the company is already hard at work developing an even more advanced process technology. According to Intel, it already knows well how to produce chips at 7nm node. “After 10nm, comes 7nm [manufacturing technology] …

Samsung Electronics this week announced that it will start high-volume production of semiconductors using its 10nm manufacturing process by the end of next year. The company also showcased a wafer processed using the technology for the first time. Samsung Foundry did not reveal a lot of information about its 10nm …