GLOBALFOUNDRIES (GF), the world's leading specialty foundry, today announced a strategic partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to provide a secure and reliable supply of semiconductor solutions manufactured at GF's Fab 8 in Malta, New York—the company's most advanced semiconductor manufacturing facility. These semiconductor chips will be used in some of the DoD's most sensitive applications for land, air, sea, and space systems.

Under the agreement, GF will provide a supply of chips built at Fab 8 on its differentiated 45 nm SOI platform. The agreement is made possible by Fab 8's compliance with U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and highly restrictive Export Control Classification Numbers under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR).

The new supply agreement builds upon the longstanding partnership between the DoD and GF to provide chips for defense, aerospace, and other sensitive applications. GF currently supplies the DoD with chips manufactured at GF's other on-shore facilities, Fab 10 in East Fishkill, New York, and Fab 9 in Burlington, Vermont.

Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq:MU), today announced the availability of 45nm Serial NOR Flash memory samples in 512Mb, 1Gb, and 2Gb densities with a standard SPI interface. These new MT25Q SPI NOR devices offer a cost-effective solution with high performance, enhanced security and drop-in compatibility with legacy NOR devices, enabling high-density SPI NOR adoption in consumer, automotive, industrial and networking applications.

Micron's MT25Q devices satisfy embedded application requirements with best-in-class 2 MB/s programming speed. In addition, MT25Q devices offer improved erase performance and 66 MB/s read performance, enabling fast updates and boot performance for embedded systems. The MT25Q family also offers the industry's first serial NOR 2Gb device in a 6mm x 8mm BGA package, which is the smallest package available in the market today.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced the industry's first 45 nanometer (nm) embedded flash ("eFlash") logic process development. Samsung successfully implemented the new process into the smart card test chip, which means that this process technology fulfills the stringent quality requirements of the security solution market and can be successfully deployed on a commercial scale.

"Samsung's 45nm eFlash logic process has the potential to be broadly adopted into various components for security solutions and mobile devices, including smart card IC, NFC IC, eSE (embedded secure element) and TPM (Trusted platform module)," said Taehoon Kim, vice president of marketing, System LSI Business, Samsung Electronics. "The excellent performance from this smart card test chip will help solidify our leadership in the security IC market."

Axiomtek ultra low-power fanless embedded system with Intel Cedar Trail platform and dual display interfaces, the eBOX623-831-FL, is available now! It provides advanced graphics processing capability via the new dual core Intel Atom Cedarview processor N2600 at 1.6 GHz or D2550 1.86 GHz in 45nm technology with Intel NM10 Express chipset. This slim yet compact embedded system supports system memory of one 204-pin DDR3 800 MHz maximum up to 2 GB with N2500 and DDR3 1066/1333 MHz maximum up to 4 GB with D2550. By adopting the new Intel Cedar Trail platform, fanless eBOX623-831-FL boosts graphics performance and power efficiency. With the optimized graphics capability and dual view support (VGA and DisplayPort), the rugged unit is an ideal fit for automatic optical inspection, digital signage appliance (DSA), POS/Kiosk, embedded controller, factory automation and more applications.

Micron Technology, Inc., one of the world's leading providers of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced the addition of a new product to its Phase Change Memory (PCM) portfolio. With high-volume shipments of its 45-nanometer (nm), 1-gigabit (Gb) PCM-based multichip package (MCP) solution for mobile devices well underway, the company is now sampling a 512-megabit (Mb) PCM plus 512Mb LPDDR2 MCP that offers greater flexibility in terms of application requirements. The company also announced that it has been shipping 1Gb PCM to one of the world's leading mobile device manufacturers, Nokia, for use in their recently announced phones.

As the first company in the world to ship PCM solutions in volume, Micron is building on its close cooperation with chipset vendors, enablers and handset manufacturers to meet growing market demand for PCM. Nokia is using Micron's PCM solution to enrich the functionality of select devices in its portfolio.

Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq:MU), one of the world's leading providers of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced an industry first with high-volume availability of its 45-nanometer (nm) Phase Change Memory (PCM) for mobile devices, featuring 1-gigabit (Gb) PCM plus 512-megabit (Mb) LPDDR2 in a multichip package. As the first company in the world currently offering PCM solutions in volume production, Micron is providing chipset vendors, enablers, and handset manufacturers with a proven product that meets the expanding needs of today's wireless market and paves the way for enhanced features and capabilities.

PCM provides enhanced boot time, simplifies software development and boosts performance with overwrite capability. It also provides very low power consumption and extremely high reliability. In addition, the design-optimizing shared interface between LPDDR2 and PCM is fully compliant with JEDEC industry standards.

AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced that revenue for the third quarter ending Oct. 1, 2011 is expected to increase four to six percent as compared to the second quarter of 2011. The company previously forecasted third quarter 2011 revenue to increase 10 percent, plus or minus two percent, from the second quarter of 2011.

In addition, AMD expects third quarter gross margin to be approximately 44 to 45 percent. The company previously forecasted third quarter 2011 gross margin to be approximately 47 percent.

Just over one year after revealing plans for a major global capacity expansion, GLOBALFOUNDRIES today announced its newly constructed cleanrooms in New York and Dresden are ready for the installation of 300mm semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment. Achieving "Ready for Equipment" (RFE) status marks the transition from the construction phase to the operations phase-a significant milestone on the path to volume manufacturing in these new facilities.

"At GLOBALFOUNDRIES, we continue to invest aggressively in driving sustained growth on advanced technologies," said GLOBALFOUNDRIES CEO Ajit Manocha. "The build-out of our 300mm manufacturing campuses in New York and Dresden is supporting growing customer demand for advanced technologies, while creating hundreds of jobs and providing a significant boost to the economies in the surrounding regions. By completing these massive construction projects on schedule and on budget, we are continuing to deliver on our commitment to being the only truly global foundry."

Benefitting from the company's power-saving architecture, transistor and circuit design expertise, plus unique manufacturing process techniques, Intel Corporation today unveiled its newest Intel Atom processor-based platform (formerly "Moorestown").

The technology package provides significantly lower power consumption and prepares the company to target a range of computing devices, including high-end smartphones, tablets and other mobile handheld products. The chips bring Intel's classic product strengths - outstanding performance to run a comprehensive and growing number of rich media and Internet applications, a choice of software, and the ability to easily multitask - across a number of applications, including HD video and multi-point videoconferencing.

To facilitate the upgrade to AMD's next-generation processors, world-renowned mainboard and graphics card manufacturer MSI has announced that all AMD series products will be compatible with the Phenom II X6 6-core processor. With a simple BIOS update, older MSI AM3 mainboards will be capable of supporting this processor.

The all-new Phenom II X6 processor features 45nm processing technology, a true six-core design which can execute 6 threads simultaneously and the AMD Turbo Core Technology. What's more, with up to 9 MB cache, overall performance is significantly enhanced compared to the previous generation Phenom II X4 processor. The Phenom II X6 is the best option for the latest and most powerful MSI based AMD platform.

At the 2010 Mobile World Congress, GLOBALFOUNDRIES and ARM today unveiled new details on their leading-edge System-on-Chip (SoC) platform technology for powering the next generation of wireless products and applications. The new chip manufacturing platform is projected to enable a 40 percent increase in computing performance, a 30 percent decrease in power consumption, and a 100 percent increase in standby battery life. The new platform includes collaboration on two GLOBALFOUNDRIES process variants: 28nm super low power (SLP) for mobile and consumer applications and 28nm high performance (HP) for applications requiring maximum performance.

"The success of the next generation of mobile products will be increasingly dependent on their ability to deliver PC-class performance, a highly integrated rich media experience and longer battery life," said GLOBALFOUNDRIES chief operating officer Chia Song Hwee. "These demands are going to require a strong technology foundation and close collaboration between industry leaders to enable an increasing number of design companies to unlock this innovation. We are working closely with ARM to optimize the physical IP and implementation of the Cortex-A9 processor with our proven manufacturing experience in high-volume, advanced technology products, to deliver a fully integrated platform for leading-edge wireless products and applications."

DFI has announced a new mini-ITX form factor motherboard in the LR100-N16M which offers low power consumption, higher-performance, and fanless cooling. This board utilizes the latest two-chip Intel Atom processor N450 and Intel 82801HM I/O Controller (also referred to as "ICH8M") system solution. This smaller integrated two-chip platform uses approximately 40% less board space than previous generation three-chip solutions, and provides higher performance per watt than any previous Intel Atom processor-based platform.

The LR100-N16M mini-ITX motherboard is equipped with a 45nm Hi-K technology Intel Atom processor N450 with 5.5W TDP, 667MHz front side bus (FSB) and 1.67GHz core frequency. In addition, this single core processor features a 512kb 8-way L2 cache, 64bit computing support using Intel 64 architecture, on-die memory and graphics controllers, all in a small Micro-GCBGA8 package. Integrating the memory and graphics controllers on the processor die increases performance, reduces the board footprint, and lowers power consumption over the previous generation three-chip platforms.

Intel Corporation announced new Intel Atom processors today that feature integrated graphics built directly into the CPU, enabling improved performance and smaller, more energy-efficient designs in a new generation of netbooks and Atom-based entry level desktop PCs. Major OEMs have committed to having systems on the new Intel Atom processors and a new companion chipset available within the next few weeks.

The newest Intel Atom platform for netbooks consists of a new Intel Atom processor, the N450, and a new low-power Intel NM10 Express Chipset. For entry level desktop PCs, it consists of either the Intel Atom processor D410 or the dual core D510, also paired with the Intel NM10 Express Chipset. The Intel Atom processor was designed from the ground up for small devices and low power, and remains Intel's smallest chip, built on the company's 45nm high-k metal gate manufacturing process. The overall package, including chipset, just got smaller due to the increasing integration and 45nm manufacturing, which means smaller, more compact system designs, lower costs for OEMs and improved performance.

Researchers from Intel Labs demonstrated an experimental, 48-core Intel processor, or "single-chip cloud computer," that rethinks many of the approaches used in today's designs for laptops, PCs and servers. This futuristic chip boasts about 10 to 20 times the processing engines inside today's most popular Intel Core-branded processors.

The long-term research goal is to add incredible scaling features to future computers that spur entirely new software applications and human-machine interfaces. The company plans to engage industry and academia next year by sharing 100 or more of these experimental chips for hands-on research in developing new software applications and programming models.

While Intel will integrate key features in a new line of Core-branded chips early next year and introduce six- and eight-core processors later in 2010, this prototype contains 48 fully programmable Intel processing cores, the most ever on a single silicon chip. It also includes a high-speed on-chip network for sharing information along with newly invented power management techniques that allow all 48 cores to operate extremely energy efficiently at as little as 25 watts, or at 125 watts when running at maximum performance (about as much as today's Intel processors and just two standard household light bulbs).

As part of the new desktop platform designed for mainstream consumers, AMD today announced the first ever quad-core processor for less than $100 Suggested System Builder Price (SSBP). By balancing the power of new AMD Athlon II X4 quad-core processors and the AMD 785G chipset featuring ATI Radeon HD 4200 graphics, AMD delivers smooth HD visuals and the foundation for a great Windows 7 experience.

When matched against similarly priced competitive processors, the AMD Athlon II X4 620 processor delivers superior multitasking performance allowing mainstream users to do more in less time, for less money. The AMD Mainstream Desktop Platform leverages AMD software to help enhance the overall experience. ATI Stream technology, for example, enables hardware acceleration that can speed HD video conversion-time so content can be ready faster for use on-the-go.

Intel Corporation today previewed a new Intel Xeon processor codenamed "Nehalem-EX." The processor will be at the heart of the next generation of intelligent and expandable high-end Intel server platforms, which will deliver a number of new technical advancements and boost enterprise computing performance.

In production later this year, the Nehalem-EX processor will feature up to eight cores inside a single chip supporting 16 threads and 24MB of cache. Its performance increase will be dramatic, posting the highest-ever jump from a previous generation processor.

Industry observer DigiTimes, citing anonymous sources, today reported that AMD is planning to move production of its desktop processors to 45 nm node process by the third quarter of this year.

AMD plans to move production of its desktop CPUs to its 45nm node process in the third quarter, helping to reduce costs, according to sources at motherboard makers.
Currently, only AMD's quad-core Phenom II X4 800 and 900 series (Deneb) and triple-core Phenom II X3 700 series (Heka) CPUs are manufactured under a 45nm process. The company plans to move its dual-core Phenom II X2 500 series (Callisto) and Athlon II X2 200 series to 45nm in June, and quad-core Athlon II X4 600 series and triple-core Athlon II X3 400 series (Rana) in September, the sources noted.
The chipmaker also plans to launch several CPUs during the period between the end of the second quarter and the third quarter. The dual-core Phenom II X2 550 and 545 will launch at the end of the second quarter, and the quad-core Phenom II X4 945 (95W) and 8xx (95W), triple-core Phenom II X3 7xx (95W), quad-core Athlon II X4 630 and 620, triple-core Athlon II X3 435 and 425, and dual-core Athlon II X2 250, 245 and 240 will launch in the third.
AMD also plans to launch 10 low-power consumption CPUs including the Phenom II X4 905e, Phenom II X3 705e and Athlon II X4 605e.

Micro-Star International (MSI), the top motherboard and netbook makers worldwide, has developed the powerful embedded system MS-9A08 by Industrial Platform Service Department (IPS). MSI MS-9A08 support Intel Core 2 Extreme, Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Duo, and it is designed with Intel GM45 Chipset and great for applications like digital signage, Kiosk, gaming, and thin client to satisfied high performance request.

MSI debut MS-9A08 with GM45+ICH9M-E chipset to support Intel's latest 45nm Core 2 processor, the most powerful processing core with mighty performance and advanced power-saving mechanism which help to save the earth. Besides, it adapts new generation Intel GM45 north-bridge chip which integrated with Intel GMAX4500 HD graphics core to boost 1.7 times 3D performance, its fully support to Microsoft DirectX 10 ensure visual effects and gaming compatibility. Further more, the ClearVideo technology inside MS-9A08 fully supports Blu-Ray video playback, and smoothen multiple video formats' encoding and decoding, including MPEG2, H.264 and VC1 via hardware acceleration.

AMD has extended its 45 nm Opteron processor line-up with new energy-efficient chips fitting within a 40W power envelope, designed for very dense data center environments such as those built for cloud computing or web serving. Available immediately, the new Opteron EE chips include the 2.1 GHz Opteron 2373 EE with 6 MB L3 Cache and the 2.3 GHz Opteron 2377 EE with the same cache size. Since they are part of the Shanghai Opteron architecture, the new EE chips have the same features as all other Shanghai Opterons and are not cut-down versions.
AMD today also launches a total of ten other Opteron CPUs, that enrich the company's server HE (55W), standard (75W), and high-performance SE (105W) power bands. These are the 2.4 GHz Opteron 2379 HE ($450), the 2.4 GHz Opteron 8379 HE ($1165), the 2.5 GHz Opteron 2381 HE ($575), the 2.5 GHz Opteron 8381 HE ($1514), the standard 2.8 GHz Opteron 2387 ($873), the 2.8 GHz Opteron 8387 ($2149), the 2.9 GHz Opteron 2389 ($989), the 2.9 GHz Opteron 8389 ($2649), and the two Opteron SE 2393 and 8393 SE with 3.1 GHz clock speeds and $1165 and $2649 price tags respectively. All ten CPUs have 6 MB of L3 cache.

Continuing its momentum and leadership in virtualization technology, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. today released the first video and images demonstrating live migration across three generations of AMD processors on VMware ESX 3.5, including the Six-Core AMD Opteron processor code-named "Istanbul." Live Migration of virtual machines across physical servers is key to providing superior flexibility for managing today's data centers. Additionally, AMD is highlighting its continued, cooperative development efforts with Microsoft as evidenced in Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V, which is available today as a beta and adds support for AMD-V technology with Rapid Virtualization Indexing. The new 45nm Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor provides scalable performance for both Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 and has received support from all four global OEMs.

Apple just introduced the new Mac Pro featuring Intel "Nehalem" Xeon processors. Thanks to the new 8-core Intel architecture running at speeds up to 2.93 GHz, the new Mac Pro delivers up to twice the performance of the previous generation Mac Pro. It also features the latest graphics from both NVIDIA and ATI - the system can be purchased with either GeForce GT 120 with 512 MB of GDDR3 memory or Radeon HD 4870 with 512 MB of GDDR5 memory. The new Mac Pro also supports up to 32 GB of DDR3 ECC SDRAM and up to 4 TB of internal storage in four hard drive bays. Additionally the 45nm Mac Pro comes with revised interior that makes expansion even easier than before. Available next week, the new Mac Pro starts at $2,499. Visit Mac Pro web page, for more information.

AMD today gave the first working demonstration of its six-core Opteron processor codenamed "Istanbul." The 45nm Istanbul server chips will succeed current "Shanghai" Opterons. Istanbul processors will use 6MB of L2 cache, and support HyperTransport and two channels of DDR2 memory per socket. The chips will fit into Socket F server motherboards. First live demonstration of Istanbul was performed on two server systems, one running four processors (24 cores total), and the second running with two processors (12 cores). AMD plans to release a full lineup of six-core Opterons based on Istanbul, including low-power HE versions and high-performance SE models, sometime in the second-half of 2009. Read the full story here.

Global motherboard and graphics card producer Micro-Star International (MSI) announced today that thirty one of its Socket AM2/AM2+ ready motherboards are now fully compatible with AMD's latest AM3 processors. These motherboards are based on both AMD and NVIDIA chipsets. Customers of the listed models only need to update their BIOS with the latest version, and don't have to purchase any new hardware. For more information about suitable motherboard SKUs and BIOS versions click here, or read the full story.

On the course of coming up with mainstream derivatives of the Nehalem architecture, for Intel, there seems to be a big deal of uncertainty surrounding the dual-core parts. Havendale (desktop) and Auburndale (notebook) were stated by initial company road-maps as the company's dual-core chips. Later, news emerged of Intel reportedly scrapping both chips to find a 32 nm replacement in another chip codenamed Arrandale. In the latest company-slide exposé by VR-Zone, details emerge of yet another iteration to Intel's plans: Clarkdale. Correct spelling is Clarkdale and Arrandale by the way (not Clarksdale or Arandale).

While it is unclear at this point, if this chip, like the Arrandale (32 nm CPU + 32 nm IGP), is built to be deployed on both desktop and mobile platforms, the reason behind its development gains clarity. The Ibex-Peak platform design by Intel, be it dual-core or quad-core, consists of a standard multi-chip module (MCM)-based design, where two dice populate a package: the central processor, and the northbridge. The design gives the company flexibility by introducing a degree of modularity. After scrapping plans of a full-on processor built on the 45 nm high-K manufacturing process, Intel seems to have realised that its foundries won't be able to cater to many designs based on the 32 nm process initially, at once. Taking advantage of the MCM design, Intel is working on this new chip: Clarkdale, which consists of the processor die built on the 32 nm second-generation high-K process, with the northbridge being built on the existing 45 nm process. This design helps evade the manufacturing constraints Intel might have initially. The northbridge die will feature an integrated graphics processor that connects to its output using the flexible-display interface. With this, Intel is looking to bring in immediate and cost-cutting to the extant feasible.

Intel pushed its performance supremacy lead further up with the introduction of the Nehalem micro-architecture. The introduction served as a milestone event in the company's history, where it sought to rearrange various components of the PC, by moving certain parts of the chipset to the processor package. In the months to come, with the introduction of the Ibex-Peak platform, the company hopes to migrate even more components from the system core-logic to the CPU package. A lot of engineering potential is unlocked due to the modularity of the various components of a Nehalem-derived CPU.

At the upcoming International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) event, Intel plans a decent set of technology demonstrations and papers. The advance program information document shed some light on Intel's itinerary. In session 3 held on February 9, Intel will present papers on its 8-core Xeon processor, following which is a session on 45nm IA processors. The session is on processors built with features characteristic of the Nehalem micro-architecture, in having integrated memory controllers, a coherent point-to-point interconnect, and up to 8 processing cores. Interestingly, the description included a note on the power consumptions, ranging from "sub-10W to 130W", which leads us to believe Intel to have plans on making derivatives of the Nehalem micro-architecture with some very low energy footprints. Another interpretation would be that a new breed of processors could have idle power consumptions as low as <10W. Currently the most energy-efficient Nehalem-based processor known to be in the works is the Xeon L5520 that has identical features to those of the Core i7 series while having a clock speed of 2.23 GHz and a rated TDP of a mere 60W.