GlobalFoundries building 28nm chip factory
updated 01:55 pm EDT, Fri July 24, 2009
GlobalFoundries Fab 2
GlobalFoundries on Friday began building a new factory dedicated to making more advanced processors. The Saratoga County, New York-based Fab 2 plant is due to be completely ready by 2012 and will make processors on processes current by the time the factory opens. Initial chips will be made using a 28 nanometer (nm) process and should shrink quickly to 22nm once its production is completely ready. The plant should be ready on a basic level by 2011 and could start its earliest production ahead of time.
Although the result of an AMD spin-off, GlobalFoundries won't be limited to making just AMD processors and may provide help to close partners IBM, NEC and Toshiba as well as other companies making processors.
Moving to 28nm and smaller processes will render future chips cooler and more power-efficient. Intel is already poised to launch its first 32nm processors in early 2010 and will pressure GlobalFoundries as well as others to improve their technology quickly.
