TSMC's 28nm Based ARM Cortex-A9 Test Chip Reaches Beyond 3GHz

TSMC 28nm HPM Process Readies for a Broad Range of Mobile, Consumer and Enterprise Applications

HSINCHU, Taiwan, May 3, 2012 -- TSMC (twse:2330) today announced its 28nm high performance ARM® Cortex(TM)-A9 dual-core processor test chip achieved 3.1GHz performance under typical conditions.

The TSMC 28nm HPM (high performance for mobile applications) process technology that achieved these results addresses applications requiring both high speed and low leakage power. Using various design signoff conditions, ARM A9 at TSMC 28HPM delivers performance speed range from 1.5GHz to 2.0GHz, suitable for mobile computing, and up to 3.1GHz for high-performance uses. With its wide performance-to-leakage coverage, the 28nm HPM process was developed for devices targeting networking, tablet and mobile consumer product applications.

The ARM Cortex-A9 silicon implementation and validation is part of TSMC's ongoing technology benchmarking effort to demonstrate performance, power and area (PPA) capabilities at the system-on-chip (SoC) level for each process technology node.

"At 3.1 GHz this 28HPM dual-core processor implementation is twice as fast as its counterpart at TSMC 40nm under the same operating conditions," said Cliff Hou, TSMC Vice President, Research & Development. "This work demonstrates how ARM and TSMC can satisfy high performance market demands. With other implementation options, 28HPM is also highly suited for a wide range of markets that prize performance and power efficiency."

"TSMC's high performance 28HPM process is suitable for a wide range of advanced ARM-processor based applications, extending from high-frequency, performance-orientated computing devices to power sensitive applications," said Jim Nicholas, Vice President of Marketing, Processor Division, ARM. "The collaboration between ARM, TSMC and our ecosystem partners has delivered an extensible implementation platform that enables flexibility in performance and power management tradeoffs for next generation products."

The Cortex-A9 processor is available for license from ARM and is aimed at mobile, high-performance consumer, and enterprise SoC requiring high performance and low power.

The test chip results demonstrate that the combination of the most advanced process technology, best-practices circuit design techniques, and proven chip implementation methodology lead to the highest PPA landmark in an SoC. The results confirm the benefits of TSMC's Open Innovation Platform® (OIP) design ecosystem that promotes innovation for the semiconductor design community, ecosystem partners and TSMC's complete technology portfolio.

About TSMC

TSMC is the world's largest dedicated semiconductor foundry, providing the industry's leading process technology and the foundry segment's largest portfolio of process-proven libraries, IPs, design tools and reference flows. The Company's managed capacity in 2011 totaled 13.22 million (8-inch equivalent) wafers, including capacity from three advanced 12-inch GIGAFAB(TM) facilities, four eight-inch fabs, one six-inch fab, as well as TSMC's wholly owned subsidiaries, WaferTech and TSMC China, and its joint venture fab, SSMC. TSMC is the first foundry to provide 28nm production capabilities. Its corporate headquarters are in Hsinchu, Taiwan. For more information about TSMC please visit http://www.tsmc.com .

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