ATI and Nvidia to Start Using TSMC’s 40nm Process Technology by Mid-2009
 

ATI, graphics product group of Advanced Micro Devices, and Nvidia Corp. are rumoured to release their next-generation graphics processing units (GPUs) sometime in the middle of next year, if the information released by sources familiar with market situations and plans of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is correct.

The leading designers of graphics processors will not utilize TSMC’s 45nm process technology, but will start using 40nm fabrication process instead in a bid to reduce manufacturing costs amid cut-throat price war between the two as well as the battle for the highest-performance discrete graphics processor on the market. Thinner process technologies allow to pack more transistors inside the chip, potentially providing better functionality and/or performance, while keeping the costs and power consumption under control.

A news-story by China Economic News Service claims that both ATI and Nvidia will complete tape-out of their 40nm designs, which are code-named ATI RV870 and Nvidia GT216, by the end of this year. Both companies are projected to release actual products based on the new chips starting from the second half of June, 2009, assuming that everything goes as planned.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/d...June_2009.html