Intel Ivy Bridge Chips Feature Tri-Gate Transistors

1. Intel Ivy Bridge Chips Feature Tri-Gate Transistors BY : YAZHUO FU

2. Intel Ivy Bridge Chips Feature Tri-Gate Transistors • Intel executives have finally launched the first of the company’s next-generation Ivy Bridge processors, a series of quad-core offerings that are aimed at high-end desktop systems. More versions, including chips for mobile devices, are expected to hit the market soon as Intel ramps up production of the 22-nanometer processors.

3. Desktops and Notebooks: Intel's Ivy Bridge Chips Highlight Tri-Gate Transistor Architecture • Intel executives have finally launched the first of the company’s next-generation Ivy Bridge processors, a series of quad-core offerings that are aimed at high-end desktop systems. More versions, including chips for mobile devices, are expected to hit the market soon as Intel pushes an aggressive ramp schedule for the 22-nanometer processors. The processors are expected to bring better performance and significantly improved graphics capabilities over the company’s current Sandy Bridge offerings. In addition, power consumption will be cut in half in some instances, thanks in large part to the introduction of Intel’s 3D Tri-Gate transistor technology. The Ivy Bridge architecture is a significant step for Intel, giving it a technology that it can use to push its way into the booming mobile computing space currently dominated by chips designed by ARM Holdings. Intel executives also expect the processors to fuel adoption of Ultrabooks. CEO Paul Otellini has said there are more than 100 designs in the pipeline that will begin rolling out this spring. PC makers already are jumping on board. For example, Hewlett-Packard on April 23 announced six desktops that will be powered by the 3rd-Generation Core processors. Others, including Asus and Lenovo, also are supporting Ivy Bridge chips. (Images courtesy of Intel.)

4. Intel's Ivy Bridge Shows Company's Manufacturing Muscle • Table of Contents: • Intel's Ivy Bridge Launch Shows Company's Manufacturing Muscle • Intel Execs Expect Ivy Bridge to Be Their Fastest Ramp Ever • Intel's aggressive growth projections for its Ivy Bridge chips are made possible by the company's investments in its manufacturing capabilities, executives and analysts say. • PrintVersion Sponsored By • Intel's Ivy Bridge Launch Shows Company's Manufacturing Muscle( Page 1 of 2 )

5. Intel’s release of its new 22-nanometer Ivy Bridge chips and the aggressive ramp schedule the company has set for the technology illustrates the advantages Intel has in being both a processor designer and manufacturer, according to executives and analysts. • Intel still spends billions to build its chip-making facilities—or “fabs”—at a time when more competitors are relying on third-party commodity manufacturers as a way to cut costs. Smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices is the highest-profile chip vendor to make such a move, spinning off its manufacturing business in 2009 to create Globalfoundries, an independent chip manufacturer • But according to Intel executives, keeping the manufacturing in-house has enabled Intel to not only reap the financial benefits of being both the designer and maker of the products, but also to quickly accelerate the ramp of chips with such cutting-edge technologies as the three-dimensional Tri-Gate transistor architecture, something rivals will be unable to duplicate for at least two years, they said. • The combination is what Intel calls Integrated Device Manufacturing, and the advantage can be seen with the Tri-Gate architecture, as well as the development of the company’s low-power Atom platform, according to Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini.

6. “The move to Tri-Gate Transistors delivers roughly twice the improvement in transistor performance over conventional planar scaling when applied to low-power applications like smartphones and Ultrabooks,” Otellini said during a conference call April 17 with analyst and journalists to discuss Intel’s first-quarter financial numbers. “We combine our process technology, manufacturing and design to produce a highly leveraged business model that is becoming increasingly rare in our industry. That model allows us to do things others can't, like advancing our Atom road map at twice the rate of Moore's Law through 2014.” • Such technology developments are becoming more difficult to pull off, and Intel’s manufacturing capabilities give it a key advantage over rivals, he said. • “Our research on 3D transistors began over 10 years ago, and advancements like this don't come easily,” Otellini said. “In fact, they're getting harder and harder to achieve, and our lead over the rest of the industry continues to grow, giving us product advantages in power, performance and cost.”

7. Intel executives expect Ivy Bridge to be the fastest ramp ever of an Intel product, and will make up 25 percent of chip shipments this quarter and half of all shipments by the fall. This comes at a time when other chip makers are dealing with supply issues from their third-party manufacturing partners. AMD took at hit in the third quarter of 2011 when issues at Globalfoundries limited supplies of 32nm “Llano” chips. More recently, Qualcomm executives noted supply problems from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) of 28nm mobile chips.

8. Intel Launches Quad-Core Ivy Bridge Chips for High-End PCs • Table of Contents: • Intel Launches Quad-Core Ivy Bridge Chips for High-End PCs • Analysts Say the Tri-Gate Architecture Gives Intel an Edge • The release of the first Ivy Bridge processors will be followed by dual-core and other versions for such systems as Ultrabooks, Intel officials say. • Intel Launches Quad-Core Ivy Bridge Chips for High-End PCs( Page 1 of 2 )

9. Intel is launching the first wave of its new Ivy Bridge processors, a collection of quad-core chips aimed at the desktop and high-end laptop markets. More versions of the 22-nanometer chips, including dual-core processors and offerings for the Ultrabook market, will begin arriving later this spring, according to company officials.The Ivy Bridge chips, which Intel executives have been touting for months and finally released April 23, are expected to offer better performance and graphics capabilities while driving down power consumption, due in large part of the introduction of the company’s three-dimensional Tri-Gate transistor architecture. The Tri-Gate architecture essentially moves away from the flat "planar" circuitry of previous designs and to a three-dimensional structure that enables Intel to offer better performance and power efficiency.

10. Intel reportedly initially is releasing 13 quad-core processors, with dual-core and other versions coming later.In an interview with the BBC, Kirk Skaugen, corporate vice president and general manager of Intel’s PC Client Group, said there are more than 300 mobile products in development that will leverage the Ivy Bridge chips, as well as more than 270 desktops that will make their way to the market, many of which are the increasingly popular all-in-one systems."The momentum around the system design is pretty astonishing," Skaugen said. "This is the world's first 22-nanometer product, and we'll be delivering about 20 percent more processor performance using 20 percent less average power.“

11. In addition, Intel is ensuring there will be no issues around production or availability of the new chips, dubbed the third generation of Core processors. The giant chip maker has built three factories outfitted to build the Ivy Bridge processors, with a fourth one due to come online late this year. Skaugen calls the Ivy Bridge effort the company’s fastest ramp ever."There will be 50 percent more supply than we had early in the product cycle of our last generation, Sandy Bridge, a year ago,” he said. “And we're still constrained based on the amount of demand we're seeing in the marketplace."Jack Gold, principal analyst with J. Gold Associates, said Ivy Bridge and the Tri-Gate architecture are highlighting Intel's strong leadership in both technology and manufacturing that rivals will have trouble matching. While some chip manufacturers, like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, are making 28nm chips, they're having problems supplying their customers. For example, Qualcomm officials this month spoke of problems producing enough 28nm chips. In addition, Advanced Micro Devices has had supply problems with manufacturer Globalfoundries, Gold said in an April 23 research note.

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