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
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
111 Comments
View All Comments
GC2:CS - Tuesday, February 17, 2015 - link
They still managed to shrunk down to 14nm interconnects - much higher density.patrickjp93 - Tuesday, February 17, 2015 - link
Nope, worse density than the 20nm node actually. https://www.semiwiki.com/forum/content/3884-who-wi... It's a consequence of initial FF designs. The leakage current drops like a stone, helping with thermals, but density takes a hit.Klimax - Tuesday, February 17, 2015 - link
Not shipping yet, just began manufacturing. And there are still qiute differences between 14nm by Samsung and by Intel.trane - Monday, February 16, 2015 - link
This must mean high performance 14nm at Globalfoundries is not far behind? Given the common platform alliance? I am wondering. Could we see AMD back at 14nm with the new Zen architecture sometime early 2016? And would that not mean process parity with Intel, for the first time - ever? (Yes, I know Intel 14nm != Samsung/GF 14nm, but it sure as hell is a lot better than 28nm!) No, I don't expect them to beat Intel out of nowhere, but I'm optimistic this could put AMD right back in the game.7420 looks like a killer SoC. A whole bag of hurt awaits 810 if Samsung sort out LTE and drivers.
Krysto - Monday, February 16, 2015 - link
I sure hope AMD is super aggressive about adopting new process nodes. AMD NEEDS that. It's bad enough that they don't have competitive IPC. When they use older processes, they just become irrelevant in the market. If they can't afford it, then maybe they should consider selling themselves to Samsung, and turn Samsung into a heavy competitor against Intel (wouldn't that be cool?).A5 - Monday, February 16, 2015 - link
My understanding from past speculation on the topic is that AMD's x86 license is automatically terminated if the company is sold.Krysto - Monday, February 16, 2015 - link
I know, but surely Samsung will be able to negotiate something with Intel? I don't think world's governments will LET Intel become the only x86 provider. I'm sure they would intervene and start treating Intel as a monopoly. I don't think Intel wants any of that kind of attention.Michael Bay - Monday, February 23, 2015 - link
Yes, that`s exactly why intel is donoring cash to AMD from time to time. Wait a year, and you`ll see another lawsuit.This whole state of x86 competition is truly awful.
DanNeely - Monday, February 16, 2015 - link
Originally their license would've been terminated if they sold/outsourced their foundry business; when they spun Global Foundries off a bunch of lawyers made a large fortune renegotiating the contract with Intel. If AMD itself ended up being acquired by someone else; the same thing would happen.Penti - Monday, February 16, 2015 - link
Somebody could just buy a large share of AMD's stocks or get AMD to issue new stocks and control the company that way rather than through a merger. Abu Dhabi essentially did and is the largest individual share owner plus founded and is backing Global Foundries.Centaur's and Cyrix's licenses expired when VIA bought them, but due to tech (IP) Centaur owns they eventually did get a new license deal. That is a firm in Texas with about 100 employees.
AMD splitting up isn't really on the table, that would really only come from a bankruptcy and for that to happen they would have to run out of cash and so on first. There's really only small cores, big cores x86 (-64) and graphics in AMD nowadays. But I guess they could essentially be split up into three entities. Ones they have custom ARMv8 CPU's they could just sell of that tech to another company if they wish to exit the ARM space and get some cash. Something major like that isn't really in the process of happening, and would probably be a slow process.