Design starts triple for TSMC at 28-nm

Peter Clarke, EETimes
5/13/2011 9:31 AM EDT

LONDON – The number of IC design starts at 28-nm for foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. is more than three times what they were at the equivalent stage in the roll out of 40-nm manufacturing processes, according to a company executive.

"The smartphone and tablet is the new killer application," said Maria Marced, president of TSMC Europe. "We are seeing a design explosion at 28-nm. We have 89 tape-outs in the pipeline," Marced added. She said that by TSMC's estimate the company currently holds 90 percent of the world's pending tape-outs at 28-nm.

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