IBM, Toshiba team up on 32-nanometer CPU tech

Toshiba today revealed that it will assist IBM's 32-nanometer processor development. The Japanese electronics maker will join AMD, Samsung, and other technology firms in the IBM Semiconductor Alliance in producing CPUs and other chips based on the smaller manufacturing process, likely leading to faster components to be shared between some or all of the firms, such as IBM's Cell processor used in the PlayStation 3 and future AMD Phenom cores.

The new deal is a further strengthening of ties between the two companies, which began two years ago when IBM and Toshiba started jointly researching the basic 32nm technology. Neither company has specifically announced its short-term goals but are likely to produce finished products by 2009, in line with similar predictions made by Intel for its own 32nm hardware.

Filed under: computers
Other story tags: Intel, Toshiba, IBM, Cell, 32nm