AMD isn’t planning to launch its upcoming Ryzen 3000 series with TSMC’s new 7nm+ EUV process. Due to it being their first volume production run, they are using the 7nm production node instead. This is because of the fact that it is a smaller and lower frequency chip, making it a more viable strategy.
The process of EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography) is all about reducing the number of manufacturing stages and reducing power consumption. It also brings us closer to the target of a 1nm transistor size which seems harder with every passing year. This is what keeps Moore’s law running in some fashion or the other.
The mass production for 7nm+ chips began in March, with 5nm testing production beginning in 2020. TSMC isn’t jumping headfirst into the EUV future right now, but in fact, it’s claiming that chip creators will still be able to increase transistor density by 20% and reduce power consumption by 10%.
The future of EUV looks undoubtedly strong as Samsung has reportedly signed Nvidia to be their launch partner in 2020. Intel is also pumping billions into its own foundries in Israel as well as the US. We’ll get a solid idea of the working of EUV when AMD’s ZEN3 processors are revealed. They will be arriving sometime within 2020, with the designs already being in the pipeline.
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