Samsung Announces 14nm FinFET for Exynos 7
by Joshua Ho on February 16, 2015 4:04 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
- Tablets
- SoCs
While we've known about the existence of the Exynos 7420 for a while now, we didn't really know what to expect until recently. Today, it seems that Samsung is ready to start disclosing at least a few details about an upcoming Exynos 7 SoC, which is likely to be the Exynos 7420.
At a high level Exynos 7 will have four Cortex A57s clocked at 2.1 GHz, in addition to four Cortex A53s along with an LPDDR4-capable memory interface. According to Samsung Tomorrow, we can expect a 20% increase to device performance, which is likely a reference to clock speed, and 35% lower power consumption. In addition, there is a reference to a 30% productivity gain, which is likely to be referencing performance per watt. Samsung claims that these figures come from a comparison to their 20nm HKMG process, which we've examined before with the Exynos 5433 in the Note 4 Exynos review.
Although there is no direct statement of which version of 14nm is used for this upcoming Exynos 7 Octa, judging by how this is the first 14nm IC to come from Samsung it's likely that this SoC will use 14LPE, which focuses on reducing leakage and power consumption rather than switching speed.
Source: Samsung Tomorrow
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Michael Bay - Monday, February 23, 2015 - link
Not really the same thing. intel could afford someone buying AMD production capability since it had then and has now a very substantial lead. But what would happen if, say, Apple decided to buy AMD and produce x86 chips for itself? Worse yet, if they sell those chips to the likes of Dell and HP? With amount of money they have it`s a trivial deal.Of course intel can`t have that.
CiccioB - Wednesday, February 18, 2015 - link
I think it is not that simple. Current x86 technology contains lots of AMD IP (all the -64 part at least) so I can't think Intel can terminate anything so easily as it is not more the unique owner of the technology.It the terms were the same as in the past, as soon as Intel terminates x86 license to AMD, AMD could immediately termnate x64 support to Intel. Think about what a mess that will be.
smilingcrow - Monday, February 16, 2015 - link
"This must mean high performance 14nm at Globalfoundries is not far behind?"Not at all as high performance is a very different beast so don't assume anything.
Until they officially announce it's in production or actually shipping who knows when it will be ready.
Krysto - Monday, February 16, 2015 - link
Snapdragon 810 can't compete with a 14nm chip. Game over for Qualcomm (at least concerning Samsung's devices, but Samsung COULD sell it to others, too - and it should!). Also Snapdragon 810 seems to throttle heavily, much more than previous Qualcomm chips, so the current benchmarks you see on other sites showing the 810 as being "equal" in heat dissipation to 805 or winning in performance are misleading.sonicmerlin - Monday, February 23, 2015 - link
No one can compete with qualcomm's modems.SydneyBlue120d - Monday, February 16, 2015 - link
I'd like to know if only the AP is made with 14nm process or the Exynos modems coupled with the AP will be made at 14nm? What do You think?Penti - Monday, February 16, 2015 - link
It might as well be used with Intel or Marvell modems.savagemike - Monday, February 16, 2015 - link
It's great to have the increased competition and to have that you need comparable technologies. So bully for the announcement.I also agree that 14nm has become a bit of a marketing term and so 14nm might not be the same as 14nm.All that aside I see several comments talking about how Intel took a year to get 14nm in the market due to reliable production issues, and so lost something of their lead. However with that in view what we have here is Samsung saying it will be doing this. What we don't have is them saying they have good production at scale. This stuff is the most complex manufacturing the world has ever known. It's quite possible that Samsung too will have delays in actually getting it to market.
Gaugamela - Monday, February 16, 2015 - link
Samsung/GF supposedly surpassed the production issues. That's why Apple and other ARM manufacturers such as Qualcomm are looking at them to make their new chips instead of TSMC.This is great for everyone. Hopefully next year we will get AMD x86 chips in a 14nm FinFet process thus increasing the possibility of competitive AMD CPUs for the first time in the last 5 or 6 years.
smilingcrow - Monday, February 16, 2015 - link
More like 9 years I'd say.