TSMC Takes ARM’s Cortex A9 Beyond 3GHz With 28nm HPM Process

TSMC has announced that they have taken ARM’s Cortex A9 dual-core processor to 3.1 GHz using their 28nm HPM (high performance for mobile applications) process. The 28nm HPM process at TSMC has allowed the ARM Cortex A9 to range from 1.5GHz up to 2GHz for mobile computing and all the up to the 3.1GHz for high-performance situations. The implementation and validation of ARM’s Cortex A9 silicon on 28nm HPM is part of TSMC’s ongoing benchmarking effort in which they plan to demonstrate performance, power and area (PPA) capabilities of system-on-chip (SoC) designs at each process node. According to Cliff Hou, Vice President, Research & Development at TSMC, “At 3.1 GHz this 28HPM dual-core processor implementation is twice as fast as its counterpart at TSMC 40nm under the same operating conditions,” The results of the demonstration has shown the benefits of TSMC’s Open Innovation Platform (OIP) design ecosystem, with the Cortex A9 showing the highest PPA landmark of any SoC.