TSMC Kicks Off Volume Production of 7nm Chips

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AnandTech
Anton Shilov
Apr. 24, 2018

TSMC last week announced that it had started high volume production (HVM) of chips using their first-gen 7 nm (CLN7FF) process technology. The contract maker of semiconductors says it has over a dozen of customers with tens of designs eager to use the technology to make their integrated circuits.

The 7 nm node is a big deal for the foundry industry in general and TSMC in particular. When compared to the CLN16FF+ technology (TSMC’s most widely used FinFET process technology) the CLN7FF will enable chip designers to shrink their die sizes by 70% (at the same transistor count), drop power consumption by 60%, or increase frequency by 30% (at the same complexity). So far, TSMC has taped out 18 customer products using the CLN7FF technology, more than 50 CLN7FF products will be taped out by the end of 2018.

Unlike TSMC’s CLN10FF, which is used by a limited number of customers for a limited number of mobile SoCs, the CLN7FF is expected to be used to build CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs, neural network processors, cryptocurrency mining accelerators, mobile SoCs and so on. This is important because demand for smartphones is slowing down and TSMC needs other customers to offset lower orders for mobile SoCs.

More... https://www.anandtech.com/show/12677/tsmc-kicks-off-volume-production-of-7nm-chips

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We're reaching a point where nearly any PC will be good enough. The next step should be cheap 'everyday' commodity computers.

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

We're reaching a point where nearly any PC will be good enough. The next step should be cheap 'everyday' commodity computers.

Got there several years ago for me (and I suspect most people, whether they know it or not).  The CPUs/MBs I have were selected because they ran at the lowest wattage and were able to step down to the lowest MHz (less power = less heat = less fan noise). 

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Got there several years ago for me (and I suspect most people, whether they know it or not).

I suspect that you're right.

I think I've given up on desktops as I really don't need one. I had a laptop that was good enough but the power supply finally crapped. To replace it I got a barely adequate laptop on sale for about $200.

I'm now waiting for a decent price on a laptop with a better CPU (probably APU), a full HD monitor and at least 8 GB of RAM. An SSD would be nice.