... it's how you use it!

20nm planar vs. 14nm FinFET.

GLAL,

R.

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"The interesting thing to note about the A8 vs Core M is that at TSMC 20nm Apple was able to pack in 2B transistors while Intel was only able to pack in 1.3B at 14nm. Apple’s die size is a tad larger (89mm2 vs 82) but seriously, this is a 20nm planar versus 14nm FinFET comparison and where is Intel’s so called transistor density superiority?

Apple’s A8 chip from TSMC’s 20nm has better transistor density than Intel’s 14nm Core-M

No, no typo here. TSMC’s “20nm” is better than Intel’s “14nm”, in transistor density or die shrinkage.

November last year, Intel published its infamous slides claiming its 14nm node achieving 35% higher density than the foundries’ 14/16nm.

As late as August 25, 2014, Ashraf Eassa, a long-time Intel promoter, still wrote:

“such estimates would suggest that Intel's 14-nanometer process is a 27% shrink from Samsung's 14-nanometer and about a 37% shrink from Taiwan Semiconductor's 16-nanometer process.

“Intel's 14-nanometer process is denser and in production before competing processes; this is an achievement to not be taken lightly.”

Inside Intel Corporation's Revolutionary New Chip Technology (INTC)
http://bit.ly/1tVM9vy

16 days later, on Sep 9, Apple announced iPhone 6 with a new 20nm A8 SoC inside:

"The latest SoC, dubbed A8, is Apple’s first SoC built on the 20nm process, and among the first SoCs overall to be built on this process. Apple notes that it has 2 billion transistors and is 13% smaller than the A7, which would give it upwards of twice as many transistors as the A7 and would put the die size at about 89mm2."

Sep 9, 2014
AnandTech | Apple Announces A8 SoC
http://bit.ly/1ulWpf3

Previously codenamed Broadwell-Y, the dual-core 14nm Intel Core M chip boasts 1.3 billion transistors on a die size of 82mm and promises to "reinvent the notebook".

Sep 05 2014
Intel launches 14nm fanless Core M processor for 2-in-1 devices
http://bit.ly/1ulWqzQ

A8: 2 billion transistors on 89mm2 – 224.7 millions of transistor per mm2

Core-M: 1.3 billion on 82mm2 – 158.5 millions of transistor per mm2

Therefore, A8 packs 41.76% more transistors than Core-M. (224.7 – 158.5) / 158.5 = 41.76%

TSMC exceeds Intel in die shrinkage, which has been the core of the proclaimed Intel superiority.

Even I myself was surprised by the degree of density outperformance of TSMC’s 20nm. I thought TSMC’s 20nm is just about the same as Intel’s 14nm in the real-world chips. (not the misleading “forecasts” Intel and its promoters threw around.)

I am pretty sure that Intel promoters won’t admit such fact. They will create mother of all misinformation to obscure the TSMC leadership. This article is an example of such misinformation.

Other pro-Intel misinformation:

Already published is an article that proclaims A8’s performance is the same as A7, citing whatever benchmarks, even though A8 contains twice as much transistors as A7. Apple just throws in extra 1 billion transistors for nothing.

Or, Intel will change designs and its next 14nm processor will be much denser. Or, Core-M delivers better performances.

ref.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/2493955-intel-processors-will-make-waves-in-mobile#comment-40167305