Yesterday was a remarkable day. Historical even if one had read the press release headline given by Intel; “the biggest technology announcement of the year”. Upon reading it I immediately thought that Intel will announce something big. My first guess was a tie-up between the Intel CPU chips and McAfee in some manner, but to no avail.
Instead Intel has unveiled a new transistor, the building block of a CPU.
Intel Corporation today announced a significant breakthrough in the evolution of the transistor, the microscopic building block of modern electronics. For the first time since the invention of silicon transistors over 50 years ago, transistors using a three-dimensional structure will be put into high-volume manufacturing. Intel will introduce a revolutionary 3-D transistor design called Tri-Gate, first disclosed by Intel in 2002 into high-volume manufacturing at the 22-nanometer (nm) node in an Intel chip codenamed “Ivy Bridge.” (A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter.)
According to Intel the importance of the announcement can be summarised as follows:
- Intel announces a major technical breakthrough and historic innovation in microprocessors: the world’s first 3-D transistors, called Tri-Gate, in a production technology.
- The transition to 3-D Tri-Gate transistors sustains the pace of technology advancement, fueling Moore’s Law for years to come.
- An unprecedented combination of performance improvement and power reduction to enable new innovations across a range of future 22nm-based devices from the smallest handhelds to powerful cloud-based servers.
- Intel demonstrates a 22nm microprocessor – codenamed “Ivy Bridge” – that will be the first high-volume chip to use 3-D Tri-Gate transistors.
I think this announcement has been “forced” due to ARM’s dominant position with providing CPU’S for tablets and smart phones. This new technology will provide Intel with the ability to compete in a new market which is booming at the moment. This new technology has another benefit for Intel’s customers, the fact that there is a reduction in power usage for the respective CPU’s. Currently Intel’s CPU’s are limited to a degree with their power usage in my opinion. No manufacturer wants a CPU that will force owners to have their devices on a permanent charging state. The 3D transistors enable CPU chips to operate at lower voltage providing both improved performance and energy efficiency compared to previous Intel chips. I am excited about this announcement and cannot wait for it to come to the market as this could mean that ARM will have to do something similar to stay relevant. We all know what competition does to an industry…
