About Process IBM and Intel Chips: Lame and Lamer?
August 28, 2020
AnandTech published “TSMC Details 3nm Process Technology: Full Node Scaling for 2H22 Volume Production.” Most people don’t know a nanometer from a Gen X tweeter. No crazy physics required for this post. What’s important are these two “big” announcements from US technology companies who are in the CPU business.
The first announcement is from Intel. That’s the outfit with the Horse Collar quantum computing thing. No, you can’t get one yet, maybe ever. Who really knows? Intel is now going to ship CPUs using 10 nm process technology with modern with it process technology scheduled for 2021. Let’s go with 7nm. I like assuming that Intel will catch up with AMD Ryzen 3000s. For “color”, you may enjoy this NYT write up about the Intel Inside crowd. Prepare to pay for “all the news,” of course.
The second announcement is from Big Blue. That’s the outfit with IBM Watson which also sells mainframes. (Thank goodness for the RedHat acquisition.) You can now purchase the really popular Power9 CPUs fabbed at 14nm.
So what?
If TSMC does move to 3nm in 2022, will IBM and Intel have a horse in the race? Moving the wonderful Intel architecture to parity with AMD has been — how shall I phrase it — a long, painful journey in a Yugo.
IBM has to move from 14nm to 3nm. Hey, just ask Watson how to pull this off.
With ARM, Amazon, and Chinese CPU outfits pushing in new directions, perhaps one should consult the oracle at Delphi about the future business opportunities for IBM and Intel. Pigeons work. Moving to more modern, energy efficient, and sometimes speedier CPUs may be a challenge. Where did that pigeon go? Taiwan and South Korea where the fabs are?
Stephen E Arnold, August 28, 2020
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