AMD unveils Zen and Vega architecture with 12nm manufacturing technology

During the past years, AMD has been in the shadow of its longtime rival, Intel. But this story has changed with the introduction of the latest generation of Ryzen processors that use 14nm manufacturing technology. The manufacturing technology of new AMD processors is similar to current Intel processors, which is a strong point for these products. Considering that Intel plans to migrate from 14nm manufacturing technology to 10nm; AMD did not stay idle and announced the presentation of 12 nm manufacturing technology in 2018 during the Global Foundries technology conference.

At the launch of Ryzen and Vega, AMD talked about its next move towards new manufacturing technology in 2018. At that time, evidence and slides indicated that AMD was using 14nm+ manufacturing technology instead of 14nm manufacturing technology. The main reason for this assumption was that the manufacturing technology was believed to jump from 14nm to 7nm. But due to the fact that it is now clear that AMD will use 12nm manufacturing technology, 14nm+ manufacturing technology will not be used for this company. Also, using 12 nm technology will be much better and will be more useful for this company.

Also, the move from 14nm manufacturing technology to 12nm is not that big of a move. Samuel Wan, the author of the article, expects a lot of similarity between 12nm and 14nm chips. Global Foundries claims that compared to 16nm manufacturing technology, we will see a 15% increase in density and a 10% performance improvement. In fact, this semiconductor manufacturing factory has used 16 nm manufacturing technology instead of comparing with 14 nm manufacturing technology. However, this update is a step forward for AMD; Especially since Intel plans to unveil 10nm manufacturing technology at the same time.

With news based on the presentation of 12 and 10 nm technologies, we can guess that 7 nm manufacturing technology will not enter the semiconductor market anytime soon. Global Foundry seems to have given up on any direct move from the 14nm process to 7nm, and we should expect to see this technology sometime in 2019 or 2020. At this time, Zen 2 and Navi architectures, which are the next generation of Zen and Vega architectures, will enter the market. In 2018, we’ll see just one update for AMD’s current processors. It is hoped that during this period, Global Foundries will be able to fulfill its ambitious goals. In the table below, you can see the roadmap of AMD company in manufacturing processors: