ARM has signed a deal with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp to produce next generation 20 and 28nm chips.
John Heinlein, vice president of marketing for British company ARM, announced the deal on his blog, believing that the deal with TSMC will make devices smaller and sleeker and improve battery life.
"ARM and TSMC announced a major new collaboration to help drive this kind of innovation forward for many years to come," wrote Heinlein.
Key challenges
"One of the key challenges in delivering advanced devices is achieving the performance gains we have come to expect while also achieving battery life improvements and making devices smaller and sleeker," he continued
"This collaboration is designed to help our partners achieve exactly that.
"…this agreement establishes a long term relationship between TSMC and ARM centered on the development of ARM Physical IP for TSMC's most advanced 28nm and 20nm processes, products like memory compilers and standard cell libraries that our partners use to assemble their chips."
Shaping innovation
Heinlein states that the deal is vital to continue the kinds of innovation that have shaped the first decade of this millennium.
"My latest smartphone is smaller than ever and yet boasts a high resolution still and video camera," says Heinlein.
"Also, I'm shifting more and more of my work to an ultra-thin tablet that's smaller and lighter than a full-size notebook.
"But as everyone knows, it's getting tougher and tougher to deliver that kind of innovation.
"That is exactly why today's announcement between ARM and TSMC is so important to the future of mobile and other consumer devices."
