Re:AMD, Intel, and Nvidia Reportedly Slash Orders with TSMC
by sudosysgen on Friday December 30, 2022 @04:07PM
(#34190117)
5nm also has about 100x more density than 90nm, to be fair.
Re:AMD, Intel, and Nvidia Reportedly Slash Orders with TSMC
by rcxdude on Saturday December 31, 2022 @08:24PM
(#34202612)
Yeah, but that's no advantage if the device you're making can't be made any smaller due to non-manufacturing constraints, which is the case for power electronics, a lot of analog electronics, and also a suprising amount of digital electronics as well (where the whole device will fit in the spaces between the bond pads needed to connect the chip to anything else).
Re:AMD, Intel, and Nvidia Reportedly Slash Orders with TSMC
by sudosysgen on Saturday December 31, 2022 @11:55PM
(#34203732)
Sure.
5nm is a multi-billion dollar fab, absurdly high running costs, and very expensive wafers.
As a data point: 5nm lithography equipment is > $100M/unit, needs megawatts of power to run, and they handle about 60-80 wafers per hour.
90nm lithography equipment is ~ $1M/unit, needs kilowatts of power to run, and they handle about 60-80 wafers per hour.
So a wafer scanned on 5nm equipment that could have been scanned on 9nm equipment is carrying a very large capital and operational cost burden that's pointless.