01:17 | Intel’s 7nm delayed until at least 2022
As if things couldn’t get worse for Intel on the manufacturing side, he just announced that his 7nm process has been delayed. That means volume production won’t be online until 2022, or possibly 2023, unlike the end of 2021.
Intel CEO Bob Swan and the man who hates benchmarking delivered the grim news along with Intel’s second-quarter earnings, while touching on a few other tech hotspots. According to Swan, Intel is “seeing an approximate six-month change in time for our 7nm-based CPU product from previous expectations.” Additionally, Intel notes that 7nm yields are approximately 12 months behind internal targets.
“We have identified a defect mode in our 7nm process that resulted in performance degradation. We have caused the problem at the root and we believe that there are no fundamental obstacles, but we have also invested in contingency plans to protect against further uncertainty in the schedule, “says Swan. To maintain Intel’s roadmap and competitiveness, Swan says that Intel will rely on other aspects such as matrix unbundling and advanced packaging.
Part of Intel’s contingency plans will also allow Intel to take advantage of internal and external process technologies, meaning Intel will lean on third-party foundries where it makes sense. As such, Intel now declares that Ponte Vecchio will combine internal and external process technologies, combined with Intel’s packaging technology, and will ship in late 2021 or early 2022.
Intel’s historical issues at 10nm also led Intel to decouple the advancements of its architecture from the advancements of process nodes, so Sunny Cove was born. This allows Intel to move forward with architectural improvements without hanging them on smaller processes in the event of an obstacle. This is a disaggregated approach that makes Intel architectures portable between nodes, and it means that Intel could support a newer architecture to older process technology.
Intel says it is still committed to its roadmap and annual product improvement cadence, and also states that “while process technology is very important, it is only one of the six technological pillars of innovation that drive differentiation in our products”. However, there is no way to cut this where it doesn’t hurt; especially when AMD is running so aggressively on its own roadmap and products. Intel promises more updates on its next Architecture Day, so stay tuned.
Source: https://newsroom.intel.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2020/07/ceo-remarks-earnings-call-2Q2020.pdf
06:17 | NVIDIA working on amp programming
We have confirmed with board partners that NVIDIA is working on its Ampere schedule and release deadlines starting the week of 26, aligning itself with previous rumors that the cards would likely launch in late August or early September. To be clear, this is NVIDIA working internally and with partners at launch, not necessarily anything that goes public. However, it can prevent further leakage. This entire Ampere series is the earliest that an NVIDIA product has leaked in recent history, and speaking to sources close to the matter, we understand that NVIDIA is not happy with the leaky ship that is working. Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, personally tries to control the leaks to the point that he is often debating what will be shown at a press conference in the closing moments before taking the stage, speaking from experience. This is unusual for NVIDIA, and does not appear to be one of the intentional leaks we would cynically target. As for AMD and RDNA2, we don’t know that much at the moment.
Source: GamersNexus
08:31 | AMD confirms (again) that Zen 3 is coming this year
Speaking of AMD, the company is once again reaffirming that Zen 3 chips will arrive this year. In a perfect world, we probably would have seen them by now, as AMD generally reserves processor announcements for Computex. But unfortunately, we are living in a world with human malware that has neglected all the trade fairs of the year.
So for the past few months AMD has been confirming (and reconfirming) that we will be seeing Zen 3 this year. Somehow, at least. To clarify this point once again, Rick Bergman of AMD, Executive Vice President of Computing and Graphics, turned to the AMD blog.
The blog post focused primarily on AMD’s newer 7nm 7MM Ryzen 4000 APUs. However, towards the end of the blog post, Bergman concluded with “So what’s next for AMD in the PC space? Well, I can’t share too much, but I can say that our high-performance journey continues with our first ‘Zen 3’ Client processor on the way for release later this year. I will finish by saying that you have not seen us better yet …
Bergman offers the word “customer” here, which means we’ll get more Zen 3 than just Epyc Milan, which has been on the roadmap this year for some time. However, the client side of Zen 3 still encompasses both the desktop and the mobile device, so we still have to speculate a bit.
Source: https://community.amd.com/community/amd-corporate/blog/2020/07/21/consumer-and-commercial-pcs-two-sides-of-a-valuable-coin
10:25 | Samsung’s 5nm node suffers from poor performance
It seems that Intel isn’t the only one struggling with shrinking process nodes this week. A Digitimes report suggests that Samsung is currently very focused on its own nanometric hurdle, this one is 5nm in size.
Samsung’s 5nm process will depend on the EUV for critical layers, and volume production was scheduled for the end of the second quarter of this year. However, according to SeekingAlpha, Samsung was unable to install the ASML EUV equipment until the end of June, which is already jeopardizing Samsung’s schedule.
To further complicate the supposedly low returns Samsung is seeing, of which Digitimes claims Samsung is “struggling to improve.” As such, this is reported to affect not only Samsung’s chip production and product lines, but Qualcomm’s as well. Samsung’s first 5nm chip was supposed to be its own Exynos 992 SoC; However, it is rumored that the next Samsung products will use the old Exynos 990.
As for Qualcomm, its upcoming Snapdragon 875G SoC and Snapdragon X60 5G modem could be delayed as they may get caught in the spotlight on Samsung’s manufacturing issues.
Source: Digitimes (paywalled) – https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20200720PD203.html
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3592705-samsungs-5nm-struggles-delay-qualcomm-5g-chips-report
11:40 | Nvidia might be looking to buy an arm
In a chip deal to end all chip deals, it appears that the possible sale of Arm has caught Nvidia’s attention. It’s obvious, but an acquisition of Nvidia’s Arm would have huge implications for the CPU market and would certainly draw regulators’ eyes.
Arm is currently owned by SoftBank, a holding company conglomerate that has interests in a large number of technology companies, and was previously the owner of a portion of Nvidia. SoftBank acquired Arm in 2016 for $ 32B, but recent reports suggest that SoftBank may be ready to list the company for sale. Bloomberg has received two separate reports about the sale: one that lists Nvidia as a potential buyer, and one that indicates that Apple is not interested.
Apple’s purchase of Arm would be a major conflict of interest, and it probably wouldn’t sit well with regulators. Since Nvidia doesn’t have a horse in the mobile SoC race, it may have a better chance of getting an approved deal, but that’s a great “maybe”. Reports also suggest that SoftBank may seek an IPO for Arm. It’s also possible that SoftBank simply increases interest and ends up doing nothing with Arm.
Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-22/softbank-s-chip-company-arm-is-said-to-attract-nvidia-interest
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/07/reports-arm-is-for-sale-and-nvidias-interested-apple-isnt/
13:15 | AMD shares reach 15-year high
AMD’s shares currently enjoy a maximum of 15 years. As Tom’s Hardware notes, for the first time since 2006, AMD’s share price beat Intel’s.
AMD’s stock price has been on the rise for months, starting in 2020 breaking its own record for stock prices, and now reaching a 30% YoY improvement according to MarketWatch. However, Intel’s actions have been more tumultuous. In fact, Intel’s stock price recently plummeted after trading hours, following the news that its 7nm portfolio has been delayed. MarketWatch notes that Intel has only seen a 1% YoY improvement in its shares.
It appears that some of AMD’s stock surge comes at the expense of Intel’s setbacks, even when AMD has certainly been performing exceptionally well on its roadmap and product launch cadence. AMD shares are at $ 68.48, while Intel shares are down to $ 50.67.
Source: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-stock-price-surpasses-intels-for-first-time-in-15-years
15:15 | Cooler Master Pi 40 Case
Cooler Master is currently funding a case for the Raspberry Pi 4 on Kickstarter, in what appears to be a startup for the company that could possibly generate similar products.
The case, known as Pi Case 40, is trying to differentiate itself from other Pi cases in two different ways. For starters, Cooler Master claims the case would passively cool a Raspberry Pi 4, even one that has been overclocked. The Pi Case 40 will feature a cast aluminum body that will act as a heat sink, with additional fins throughout the block for increased heat absorption.
Secondly, the Pi Case 40 never needs to be removed, as the case will allow access to all I / O on the board, even the 40-pin GPIO headers, as the case redirects them to the side for access. The Pi Case 40 also features a power button to turn the Pi on or off without having to remove the power supply. The power button can also be reassigned, so it can be configured for a number of other functions, such as scripts, overclocking, or opening apps.
The Pi Case 40 will also include a set of VESA mounts, which should make it easy to mount behind a screen or on the wall. Cooler Master claims that Pi Case 40 is an open source project, and they are using Kickstarter as a means of receiving feedback from the community. Additionally, Cooler Master will make the Pi Case 40 schematics and 3D model available for free through its website.
The Pi Case 40 is currently expected to ship in September. You can pre-order via Kickstarter for $ 25.
Source: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coolermaster/pi-case-40/
Publisher: Eric Hamilton
Hosted by steve burke
Video: Keegan Gallick, Andrew Coleman
.
